CORNELL UNIVERSITY
LIBRARIES
ITHACA, N. Y. 14853
£ à
JOHN M. OLIN
LIBRARY
Cornell University Library
L2773 .D27 1904
"Hii
Cornell University
The original of this book is in
the Cornell University Library.
There are no known copyright restrictions in
the United States on the use of the text.
http://www. archive.org/details/cu31924029093320
DE TRIBUS IMPOSTORIBUS,
A. D. 1230.
THE THREE IMPOSTORS
TRANSLATED
(with Notes and Comments)
FROM A FRENCH MANUSCRIPT OF THE WORK
WRITTEN IN THE YEAR 1716,
WITH A DISSERTATION ON THE ORIGINAL TREATISE
AND
A BIBLIOGRAPHY OF THE VARIOUS EDITIONS
BY
ALCOFRIBAS NASIER, THE LATER.
PRIVATELY PRINTED
FOR THE SUBSCRIBERS.
1904.
Lo
^
AN INDEX EXPURGATORIUS.
The man who marks or leaves with pages bent
'The volume that some trusting friend has lent,
Or keeps it over long, or scruples not
To let its due returning be forgot;
The man who guards his books with miser's care,
And does not joy to lend them, and to share;
The man whose shelves are dust begrimed and few,
Who reads when he has nothing else to do;
'The man who raves of classic writers, but
Is found to keep them with their leaves uncut;
The man who looks on literature as news,
And gets his culture from the book reviews;
Who loves not fair, clean type, and margins wide—
Or loves these better than the thought inside;
Who buys his books to decorate the shelf,
Or gives a book he has not read himself;
Who reads from priggish motives, or for looks,
Or any reason save the love of books—
Great Lord, who judgest sins of all degrees,
Is there no little private hell for these?
Edition $52 copies.
12 on large paper.
INTRODUCTION.
This pamphlet in its present form is the result of
an inquiry into the characters represented in a
historical grade of the Ancient Accepted Scottish
Rite, and the probability of their having existed at the
date mentioned in the said grade. Few appeared to
have any very clear notion of the relation of the char-
acters to the period—Frederick II. being confounded
with his grand-father, Frederick Barbarossa—and the
date of the supposed foundation of the Order of Teutonic
Knights, 1190, being placed as the date of the papacy
of Oronata, otherwise Honorius III. Inquiry being
made of one in authority as to the facts in the case—he
being supposed to know—elicited the reply that the
matter had been called to his attention some months
previous by an investigator—now deceased—but the
matter had been dropped. It was also surmised by the
same authority that an error might have been made by
one of the committee having ritualistic matter in charge
—but he, having also been gathered to his fathers, was
not available for evidence.
It is stated that the action took place when Fred-
erick II. was Emperor of Germany, and Honorius III.
presided over spiritual conditions; but this Pope,
according to Haydn’s Dictionary of Dates, reigned
1216-1227, and the dissertation on the pamphlet names
Gregory IX., successor to Honorius, (1227-1241) as
the Pope against whom the treatise was written. The
infamous book mentioned in the representation no one
4 DE TRIBUS IMPOSTORIBUS.
seemed to have any knowledge of. Inquiry made con-
cerning the treatise at various libraries supposed to
possess it, and of various individuals who might know
something of it, elicited but the information that it was
purely ‘‘legendary,”’ that, ‘it had no existence except
by title," and that “it was an item of literature entirely
lost.”
Having been a book collector and a close reader
of book catalogs for over twenty-five years, I had
never noted any copy offered for sale, but a friend
with the same mania for books, had seen a copy men-
tioned in a German catalog, and being interested in
‘de tribus Impostoribus" for reasons herein men-
tioned, had sent for and procured the same—an edition
of a Latin version compiled from a Ms. 1598, with a
foreword in German. The German was familiar to
him, but the Latin was not available.
About the same time I found in a catalog of a
correspondent of mine at London, a book entitled
‘Les Trois Imposteurs. De Tribus Impostoribus
et dissertation sur le livre des Trois Invposteurs, sm.
flo. Saec. YVZIT.," and succeeded in purchasing it.
The manuscriptis well written, and apparently by
two different hands, which would be probable from the
facts set forth in the ** Dissertation." A copy of the
translation from the Latin is probably deposited in the
library of Duke Eugene de Subaudio as set forth in the
colophon at end of the manuscript.
The manuscript is written in the French of the
period, and is dated in the colophon as 1716. The
discovery of the original Latin document is mentioned
in the '*Dissertation"" as about 1706. It has been
annotated by another hand, as shown by foot notes, and
several inserted sheets containing notes in still another
LES TROIS IMPOSTEURS. 5
hand, were written evidently about 1746, as one of the
sheets is a portion of a letter postmarked 4e Aout in
latter year.
I append a bibliography from Werner's Latin
reprint of 1598 which will show that the pamphlet has
‘been done before"! ; but it will be noted that English
versions are not so plenty as those in other tongues,
and but one is known to have been printed in the
United States.
I must acknowledge my indebtedness to Doctissi-
mus vir Harpocrates, Col. F. Montrose, and Maj. Otto
Kay for valued assistance in languages with which I am
not thoroughly familiar, and also to Mr. David
Hutcheson, of the Library of Congress, for favors
granted.
Ample apologies will be found for the treatise in
the several introductions quoted from various editions,
and those fond of literary curiosities will certainly be
gratified by its appearance in the twentieth century.
A IN.
BIBLIOGRAPHY.
In 1846, Emil Weller published ** De Tribus
Impostoribus," and also a later edition in 1876, at
Heilbronn, from a Latin copy of one of the only four
known to be in existence and printed in 1598. The
copy from which it was taken, consisting of title and
forty-six leaves, quarto, is at the Royal Library at
Dresden, and was purchased for one hundred gulden.
The other three, according to Ebert in his ** Bibli-
ographical Lexicon," are as follows: one in the Royal
Library at Paris, one in the Crevanna Library and the
other in the library of Renouard.
An edition was published at Rackau, in Germany,
in 1598, and Thomas Campanella (1636), in his
* Atheismus Triumphatus,’’ gives the year of its first
publication as 1538.
Florimond Raimond (otherwise Louis Richeome, )
claims to have seen a copy owned by his teacher,
Peter Ramus, who died in 1572.
All the talk of theological critics that the booklet
was first printed in the seventeenth century, is made
out of whole cloth.
There is nothing modern about the edition of 1598.
It may be compared, for example, with Martin Wittel’s
print of the last decade of the sixteenth century, by
which it is claimed that it could not have been printed
then, as the paper and printing of that period closely
resembles that of the eighteenth century.
With the exception of the religious myths, few
8 THE THREE IMPOSTORS.
writings of the dark ages have had as many hypotheses
advanced in regard to origin as there have been regard-
ing this one.
According to John Brand it had been printed at
Krakau, according to others, in Italy or Hungary as a
translation of an Arabic original existing somewhere in
France.
William Postel mentions a tract ‘de Tribus
Prophetis," and gives Michael Servetus, a Spanish
doctor, as the author.
The Capuchin Monk Joly, in Vol. III of his
‘ Conference of Mysteries," assures us that the Hugue-
not, Nic. Barnaud, in 1612, on account of an issue of
‘de Tribus Impostoribus,’’ was excommunicated as
its author.
Johann Mueller, in his ‘‘ Besiegten Atheismus,”’
(Conquered Atheist), mentions a certain Nachtigal
who published at Hague, in 1614, ** De Trib. Imp.,”’
and was therefore exiled.
Mosheim and Rousset accuse Frederick II as the
author with the assistance of his Chancellor, Petrus de
Vineis. Vineis, however, declares himself opposed
even to the fundamental principles of the book, and in
his ** Hier. 40. 5, Cis 37, P. axi," says he never had
any idea of it.
Others place the authorship with Averroes, Peter
Arretin and Petrus Pomponatius. Heinrich Ernst
accuses the above mentioned Postel. Postel attributes
it to Servetus, who, in turn, places it at the door of the
Huguenot Barnaud.
The instigator of the treatise, it is claimed, should
have been Julius Cesar Vanini, who was burned at
Toulouse in 1619, or Ryswick, who suffered at the
stake in Rome in 1612.
DIE DREI ERZBETRUEGER. 9
Other persons accused of the authorship are
Macchiavelli, Rabelais, Erasmus, Milton (John, born
1608,) a Mahometan named Merula, Dolet, and
Giordano Bruno.
According to Campanella, to whom the authorship
was attributed occasionally, Muret, or Joh. Franz.
Poggio, were responsible. Browne says it was
Bernhard Ochini, and Maresius lays it to Johann
Boccaccio.
The ‘three cheats" are Moses, Jesus and
Mahomet, but the tracts of each of the latter alleged
authors treat only of Moses, of whom they say that his
assertions in Genesis will not hold water, and cannot
be proved.
Weller, in his edition of 1876, speaking of the
copy of r598, says that this issue should never be
compared with any of the foregoing.
Many authors have written ‘de Tribus Zmpostor-
tous? because they had some special object in view;
for instance, John Bapt. Morinus, when he edited,
under the name of Vincentius Panurgius, in Paris,
1654, an argument against Gassendi. Neure, and
Bernier.
Joh. Evelyn with a ‘* Astoria de tribus hujus se
culi famosis [mpostoribus," Padre Ottomano,
Mahomed Bei, otherwise Joh. Mich. Cigala, and
Sabbatai Sevi (English 1680, German 1669, ) f Christian
THE History or THE THREE INFAMOUS IMPOSTORS OF THIS AGE.
I. Padre Ottomano, a pretended son of the Sultan of Turkey who
flourished about 1650, and who latterly, under the above title, became a
Dominican Friar.
2. Mahomed Bei, alias Foannes Michael Cigala, who masqueraded
asa Prince of the Ottoman family, a descendant of the Emperor Solyman
the Magnificent, and in other characters about 1660.
3. Sabatat Sevi, the pretended Messiah of the Jews, ‘‘ the Only and
First-borne Son of God," who amused the Jews and Turks about 1666.
IO DE LOS TRES IMPOSTORES.
Kortholt “de Tribus Impostoribus Magnus," (Kiel
1680 and Hamburg r7or,) against Herbert, Hobbes
and Spinosa, Hadrian Beverland, Perini del Vago,
Equitis de Malta, ** Æpistolium ad Batavum in
Brittania hospitem de tribus Impostoribus, ( Latin
and English 1709.)
Finally, Michael Alberti, under the name of
Andronicus, published a ** Zractatus Medico-historicus
de tribus Lnpostoribus," which he named the three
great Tempters of Humanity: 1. Tea and Coffee.
2. Laziness. 3. Home apothecaries.
Cosmopoli Bey (Peter Martin Roman), issued at
Russworn in Rostock in 1731, and a new edition of
same treatise—De Trib. /mp.—1738 and 1756.
For a long time scholars confused the genuine
Latin treatise with a later one. De la Monnoye
fabricated a long dissertation in which he denied the
existence of the original Latin edition, but received a
well merited refutation at the hands of P. F. Arpe.
The false book is French—‘‘ La vie et l'esprit de
Mr, Benoit Spinoza."* The author of the first part
*La vie et l'esprit de W. Benoit de Spinosa was published without
the author’s name, in Amsterdam 1719. In the ‘‘ Preface du Copiste "' it is
stated that the author of it is not known, but that if a conjecture might be
permitted it might be said, perhaps with certitude, that the book is the
work of the late Mr. Lucas, so famous for his Quintessences and for his
manners and way of living.
Kuno Fischer, in his Descartes und seine schule. Zweiter theil,
Heidelberg, 1889, p. ror, says:
‘The real author of the work is not known with entire certainty;
probably the author was Lucas, a physician at the Hague, notorious in his
own day; others name as author a certain Vroese.’’
Freudenthal, in his Dre Lebensgeschichte Spinoza’s. Leipzig, 1899,
writing of the various conjectures as to the authorship of the book, states
that W. Meyer has lately sought to prove that Johan Louckers, a Hague
attorney, was the author, but that the authorship had not been settled.
Oettinger in his Brbliographie Biographie Universelle, Bruxelles,
1854, p. 1707, gives Lucas Vroese as the author.
DEI TRE IMPOSTORI. yt
was Hofrath Vroes, in Hague, and the second was
written by Dr. Lucas. It made its first appearance at
Hague 1719, and later in 1721, under the title ** de
Tribus Impostoribus," des Trois Imposteurs. Frank-
fort-on-the-Main at the expense of the Translator (7. e.
Rotterdam. )
Richard la Selve prepared a third edition under
the original title of ** The Life of Spinoza," by one of
his Disciples. Hamburgh (really in Holland, ) 1735.
In 1768 there was printed by M. M. Rey, at
Amsterdam, a new edition called a ‘‘ Treatise of the
Three Impostors;" immediately after another edition
appeared at Yverdoner 1768, another in Holland 1775,
and a later one in Germany 1777.
The contents of ** L'esprit de Spinoza" (German)
by Spinoza II, or Subiroth Sopim—Rome, by Widow
Bona Spes 5770—( Vieweg in Berlin 1787, ) are briefly
Chap. I, Concerning God. Chap. II, Reasons why
men have created an invisible Being which is commonly
called God. Chap. III, What the word Religion
signifies, and how and why so many of these Religions
have crept into the world. Chap. IV, Evident truths.
Chap.V, Of the Soul. Chap.VI, Of Ghosts, Demons,
etc. Then follows fifteen chapters which are not in
the treatise ( ? Edition 1598.)
It has also been suggested that Lucas and Vroese were two men and
together wrote the book.
The authority for ascribing the book to Vroese, of whose life no
particulars seem to have been recorded, appears to be the following passage
in the Dictionnaire Historique, par Prosper Marchand, à la Haye, 1758,
V. 1., p. 352: |
* A la fin d'une copie manuscrit de ce Traité que j'ai vue et lûe, on
lui donne pour véritable Auteur a Mr. Vroese, conseiller de la cour de
Brabant à la Haie, dont Aymon et Rousset retouchérent le langage; et que
ce dernier y ajouta la Dissertation ou Réponse depuis imprimée chez Scheur-
leer."
The name '* Vroese " appears at the side of colophon at end of our
translation, but probably as a reference only.
12 DE TRIBUS IMPOSTORIBUS.
The following became known by reason of peculi-
arities of their diction: . Ridiculum et tmposturae
in omni hominum religione, scriptio par adoxa, quam
ex autographo p Vyolons Amadei Verimontit ob
summam rei dignitatem in latinum sermonen trans-
tulit Yt 7746. Which according to Masch consists of
from five to six sheets and follows the general contents,
but not in the order of the original edition. 2. A second.
Quaedam deficiunt, s. fragmentum de libro de tribus
émpostoribus. Fifty-one pages is a fragment. 3. One
mentioned by Gottsched. De zmposturis religionum
breve. Compendium descriptum ab exemplari MSto.
quod in Bibliotheca Jo. Fried. Mayeri, Berolini Ao.
1716, publice distracta deprehensum et a Principe
Eugenio de Sabaudio 80 Imperialibus redemtum futt.
(forty-three pages.) 'The greater part of the real
book in thirty-one paragraphs, the ending of which is
Communes namque demonstrationes,quae publicantur,
nec certae, nec evidentes, sunt, et res dubias per alias
saepe magtas dubias probant, adeo ut exemplo
eorum, qui circulum currunt, ad terminum semper
redeant, a quo currere inceperunt. — Finis. A
German translation of this is said to be in existence.
4. According to a newspaper report of 1716, there also
should exist an edition which begins: .Qwamvis om-
nium hominem tnterstt nosse veritatem, rari iamen
boni illi qui eam norunt, etc.,? and ends, Qui veritatis
amantes sunt, multum solatii inde capient, et hi sunt,
quibus placere gestimus, nil curantes mancipia, quae
praejudicia oraculorum — infallibilium loco vener-
antur.
a This is probably a Latin edition of the original manuscript from
which our translation was made.—Ep.
b See translation Chap. 1 ‘Of God,” first two lines.
LES TROIS IMPOSTE URS. 13
5. Straube in Vienna made a reprint of the
edition of 1598 in 1753.
6. A new reprint is contained in a pamphlet
edited by C. C. E. Schmid and almost entirely con-
fiscated, entitled: Zwei seltene antisupernaturalis-
tische manuscripte. Two rare anti-supernaturalistic
manuscripts. (Berlin, Krieger in Giessen, 1792.)
7. There recently appeared through W. F.
Genthe an edition, De impostura religionum compen-
dium s. liber de tribus impostoribus, Leipsic, 1833.
8. Finally, through Gustav Brunet of Bordeaux
an edition founded upon the text of the 1598 edition
was produced with the title, de Tribus Impostoribus,
MDIIC. Latin text collated from the copy of the
Duke de la Valliere, now in the Imperial Library ;*
enlarged with different readings from several manu-
* DISRAELI’S CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE.
Title, ‘‘Literary Forgeries.’’
‘The Duc de la Valliere and the Abbe de St. Leger, once concerted
together to supply the eager purchaser of literary rarities with a copy of
* De Tribus Impostoribus," a book, by the date, pretended to have been
printed in 1598, though probably a modern forgery of 1698. The title of
such a book had long existed by rumor, but never was a copy seen by man.
Works printed with this title have all been proved to be modern fabrica-
tions—a copy however of the ‘introuvable’ original was sold at the Duc de
la Valliere's sale. The history of this volume is curious. The Duc and the
Abbe having manufactured a text had it printed in the old Gothic character,
under the title ‘ De Tribus Impostoribus.’ They proposed to put the great
bibliopobet, De Bure, in good humor, whose agency would sanction the im-
position. They were afterwards to dole out copies at 25 louis each, which
would have been a reasoneble price for a book which no one ever saw!
They invited De Bure to dinner, flattered and cajoled him, and, as they
imagined at the moment they had wound him up to their pitch, they
exhibited their manufacture—the keen-eyed glance of the renowned cata-
loguer of the ‘ Bibliographie Instructive’ instantly shot like lightning over
it, and like lightning, destroyed the whole edition. He not only discov-
ered. the forgery but reprobated it! He refused his sanction; and the
forging Duc and Abbe, in confusion suppressed the ‘livre introuvable”;
but they owed a grudge to the honest bibliographer and attempted to
write down the work whence the De Bures derive their fame."
14 THE THREE IMPOSTORS.
scripts, etc., and philologic and bibliographical notes
by Philomneste Junior, Paris, 1861 ( ?1867 ). Only 237
copies printed, and is out of print and rare.
9. An Italian translation of the same appeared
in 1864 by Daelli in Milan with title as above.
10. A Spanish edition also exists taken from the
same source and under the same title. London ( Bur-
deos ) 1823.
Note. All the preceding Bibliography is from the
edition of Emil Weller, Heilbronn 1876.—A. N.
The only edition known to have been printed in
the United States was entitled ‘The Three Impos-
tors." Translated ( with notes and illustrations ) from
the French edition of the work, published at Amster-
dam, 1776. Republished by G. Vale, Beacon Office,
3 Franklin Square, New York, 1846, 84pp. 12°. A
copy is in the Congressional Library at Washington.
From this I transcribe the following notes :
NOTE BY THE AMERICAN PUBLISHER.
We publish this valuable work, for the reasons
contained in the following Note, of which we approve:
NOTE BY THE BRITISH PUBLISHER,
The following little book I present to the reader
without any remarks on the different opinions relative
to its antiquity; as the subject is amply discussed in the
body of the work, and constitutes one of its most
interesting and attractive features. The Edition from
which the present is translated was brought me from
DIE DREI ERZBETRUEGER. 15
Paris by a distinguished defender of Civil and Religious
Liberty: and as my friend had an anxiety from a
thorough conviction of its interest and value, to see it
published in the English Language, I have from like
feelings brought it before the public, and I am convinced
that it is eminently calculated to promote the cause of
Freedom, Justice and Morality.
J. Mvrzs.
PREFACE BY THE. TRANSLATOR.
The Translator of the following little treatise
deems it necessary to say a few words as to the object
of its publication. It is given to the world, neither
with a view to advocate Scepticism, nor to spread
Infidelity, but simply to vindicate the right of private
judgment. No human being is in a position to look
into the heart, or to decide correctly as to the creed or
conduct of his fellow mortals ; and the attributes of the
Deity are so far beyond the grasp of limited reason,
that man must become a God himself before he can
comprehend them. Such being the case, surely all
harsh censure of each other's opinions and actions
ought to be abandoned; and every one should so train
himself as to be enabled to declare with the humane
and manly philosopher
* Homo sum, nthil humania me alienum puto."
Dundee, September 1844.
The Vale production is evidently translated from
an edition derived from the Latin manuscript which is
the basis of the translation given in this volume. The
variations in the text of each not being important, but
16 DE LOS TRES ZVPOSTORES.
simply due to the different modes of expression of the
translators—the ideas conveyed being the same.
The Treatise in Vale’s edition concludes with the
following:
* Happy the man who, studying Nature's laws,
Through known effects can trace the secret cause ;
His mind possessing in a quiet state,
Fearless of Fortune, and resigned to Fate."
—Dryden’s Virgil. Georgics Book IT, l. 700.
There is also in the Library of Congress a volume
entitled ** Zra?/é des Trois Imposteurs.’ En Suisse
de l'imprimerie philosophique—1793. Boards 33x57
inches, containing the Treatise proper 112 pp. Sen-
timens sur le traite des trots imposteurs, (De la
Monnaye) 32 pp. fesponse a la dissertation de M.
de la Monnaye 19 pp. signed J. L. R. L. and dated at
Leyden 1 Jan., 1716, to which this note is appended:
‘This letter is from Sieur Pierre Frederic Arpe, of
Kiel, in Holstein, author of the apology of Vanini,
printed at Rotterdam in 8°, 1712." The letter con-
tains the account of the discovery of the original Latin
manuscript at Frankfort-on-the-Main, in substance
much the same as the translation given in this edition.
In the copy at the Congressional Library, I find
the following manuscript notes which may be rendered
as follows: ‘Voltaire doubted the existence of this
work, this was in 1767. See his letter to his Highness
Monseigneur The Prince of ——————_.. Letter V,
Vol. 48 of his works, p. 312."
See Barbier Dict. des owv. anon. Nos. 18250,
19060, 21612.
De Tribus Impostoribus. Anon.
L esprit de Spinosa trad. du latin par Vroes.
DEI TRE IMPOSTORI. 17
In connection with this latter note, and observing
the name written at end of the colophon of the manu-
script from which the present edition is translated, it is
probable that this same JVroese was the author of
another translation.
Another remarkable copy is contained in the
Library of Congress, the title page of which is dis-
played as follows :
18 DE TRIBUS IMPOSTORIBUS.
TRAITE
DES
TROIS IMPOSTEURS
DES
RELIGIONS DOMINANTES
ET DU CULTE
d'apres l'analyse conforme à l’histoire.
CONTENANT
nombre d'observations morales, analogues à celles mises
à l'ordre du jour, pour l'affermissement de la République,
sa gloire, et l'édification des peuples de tous les pays.
ORNE DE TROIS GRAVURES.
À PHILADELPHIE
sous auspices du général WASHINGTHON
ET SE TROUVE
A PARIS chez le citoyen MERCIER, homme de lettres,
rue du Cocg Honoré, No. 120,
LONDON, at M Miller, libryre, Boon Street,
PICCADELLY.
M.DCC.XCVI.
Nore.—This edition has undoubtedly been translated from the original Latin
manuscript.—A. N.
Translation. Treatise of the Three Impostors of the governing Religions and
worship, after an examination conformable to history, containing a number of moral
observations, analogous to those placed in the order of the day for the support of the
republic, its glory, and the edification of the people of all countries.
three engravings. At Philadelphia under the auspices of General Washington, and may
be found at Paris at the house of Citizen Mercier (Claude Francois Xavier*), man of
letters, 120 Cocq Honoré street, and at London at Mr. Miller’s, bookseller, Boon street,
Piccadelly, 1796.
*The names are noted on title page in pencil.
Ornamented with
LES TROIS IMPOSTEURS. 19
On the following page may be found the follow-
ing:
T FRANCAIS T
4 tz
= L’ ETRE SUPREME a
E
* L'IMMORTALITÉ DE I, AME 2
m >
: 2
ET LA LIBERTÉ DES CULTES %
+
TAT
DES
RELIGIONS DOMINANTES
Chapter I. Concerning God, 6 paragraphs.
Chapter II. Reasons, etc., II Bs
Chapter III. Religious, 9 ek
** Les prêtres ne sont pas ce qu'un vain peuple pense
Notre crédulité fait toute leur science."
Priests are not what vain people think,
Our credulity makes all their science.
Chapter IV. Moses, 2 paragraphs.
Chapter | V. Jesus Christ, IO se
Paragraph 2. Politics; paragraph 6. Morals.
Chapter VI. Mahomet, 2 paragraphs.
Chapter VII. Evident Truths, 6 a
Chapter VIII. The Soul, 7 PE
Chapter IX. Demons, 7 a
* The French nation recognize the Supreme Being, the Immortality
of the Soul, and the Freedom of Worship.
Treatise of the Dominant Religions.
20 THE THREE IMPOSTORS.
Facing page twenty-seven is a medallion copper
plate of Moses, around which are these words ( trans-
lated): ** Moses saw God in the burning bush," and
beneath the following from Voltaire’s Pucelle (trans-
lated ):
Alone on the summit of the mysterious mount
As he desired, he closed his fortieth year.
Then suddenly he appeared upon the plain
With buck's horns* shining on his forehead.
Which brilliant miracle in the mind of the philosopher
ri
Created a prompt effect. à
In a note to par. II. occur the following lines
which translated read :
‘ How many changes a revolution makes :
Heaven has brought us forth in happy time
'To see the world Here the weak J/talian
Is frightened at the sight of a stole:
'The proud Frenchman astonished at nothing
Boldly goes to defy the Pope at his capital
And the grand Turk in turban, like a good Christian,
Recites the prayers of his faith
And prays to God for the pagan Arab,
Having no thought of any kind of expedient
Nor means to destroy altars and idol worship.
'The Supreme Being his only and sole support,
Does not exact for offering a single coin
From any sect, from Jew nor plebeian :
What need has He of Temple or archbishop ?
The heart of the just and the general good
Shines like a brilliant sun on the halo of glory."
Then follows a ‘BOUQUET FOR THE POPE”’:
** Thou whom flatterers have invested with a vain title,
Shalt thou at this late day become the arbiter of Europe?
Charitable pontiff, and friend of humanity,
Having so many sovereigns as fathers of families,
*In old prints Moses is always depicted with horns on his forehead.
DIE DREI ERZBETRUEGER. 21
The successors of Christ, in the midst of the sanctuary
Have they not placed unblushingly, incest and adultery?
Be this the last of imposture and thy last sigh.
Do thyself more honor, esteem and pleasure,
Than all the monuments erected to the glory
Of thy predecessors in the temple of memory.
Let them read on thy tomb ‘ he was worthy of love,
The father of the Church and oracle of the day. "
On the following page is a copper plate profile
portrait of Pius VI. surrounded by the words **Seza-
tus Populus Que Romanus." At the side Przncipis
Ecclesiae dotes vis Cernere Magni. (Senate and
People of Rome—Prince of the Church endowed with
power and great wisdom.) Beneath:
** The talents of the learned and the virtues of the wise,
A noble and beneficent manner with which all are charmed,
Depict much better than this image
The true portrait of Pius VI."
Facing page fifty-one is a copper plate portrait of
Mahomet, and beneath this tribute :
Know you not yet, weak and superb man,
That the humble insect hidden beneath a leaf
And the imperious eagle who flies to heaven's dome,
Amount to nothing in the eyes of the Eternal.
All men are equal: not birth but virtue
Distinguishes them apart."
'Then there are inserted a number of verses, some
of the titles reading:
tt Homage to the Supreme Being."
** Voltaire Admitted to Heaven."
+ Homage to the Eternal Father.”
** Bouquet to the Archbishop of Paris."'
* Infinite Mercy—Consolation for Sinners."
** Lots of Room in Heaven."
‘© The Holy Spirit Absent from Heaven,” etc.
22 DE LOS TRES IMPOSTORES.
Concluding with ‘A Picture of France at the
Time of the Revolution."
** Nobility without souls, a fanatical clergy.
Frightful tax gatherers gnawing a plucked people.
Faith and customs a prey to designing persons.
A price set upon the head of the CHANCELLOR (Maupeou).
The skeleton of a perfidious Senate.
Not daring to punish a parricidal conspiracy.
O, my country! O, France! Thy miseries
Have even drawn tears from Rome.*
If you have no REPUBLIC, and no pure legislators
Like exist in America, to deliver you from the oppression
Of a tyrannous empire of knaves, brigands and robbers ;
Like the British cabinet and the skillful Pitt, chief of flatterers,
Who with his magic lantern fascinates even the wise ones.
This clique will soon be seen to fall, if the French become the
conquerors
Of this ancient slavery, and show themselves the proud
protectors
Of their musical CARMAGNOLE.
In the name of kings and emperors, how much iniquity and
horror
Which are recorded in history, cause the reader to shudder
with fright.
The entrance of friends in BELGIUM, to the eyes of those who
know,
Is it not an unique epoch ?
And this most flattering tie, sustained by a heroic compact,
Will be the desire of all hearts.
À BOSTON
under the protection of Congress.
Bound in this volume is a pamphlet entitled ‘ La
FABLE DE CHRIST DEVOILEE.”’? Paris: Franklin Press.
75 Rue de Clery. 2nd year of the Republic. Also,
* When they weep at Rome, they do not laugh in Paris.
DEI TRE IMPOSTORI. 23
e .
ELOGE NON-FUNEBRE DE JESUS ET DU CHRISTIAN-
ISME. Printed on the débris of the Bastille, and the
funeral pile of the Inquisition, 2nd year of Liberty,
and of Christ 1791.
Another closes the volume: ‘‘ LETTRES Puiro-
SOPHIQUE SUR ST. PAUL: sur sa doctrine, politique,
morale, & réligieuse. & sur plusieurs points de la
réligion chrétienne considerées politiquement. (J. P.
Brissot de Warville.) Translated from the English
by the philosopher de Ferney and found in the port-
folio of M. V. his ancient secretary. Neuchatel en
Suisse 1285.
Note translated from the edition ‘ Ez Suisse, de
l'imprimerie bhilosophzque," 1793.
In a response to M. de la Monnoye, who labor-
iously endeavored to refute the existence of the treatise
entitled ‘The Three Impostors," and which reply in
addition to M. de la Monnoye’s arguments appear in
connection with some of the translations of the treatise,
occurs the following introduction to the account of the
discovery of the original manuscript: “I have by me
a more certain means of overturning this dissertation
of M. de la Monnoye, when I inform him that I have
read this celebrated little work and that I have it in my
library. I will give you and the public an account of
the manner in which I discovered it, and as it is in my
possession I will subjoin a short but faithful description
of it."
Here follows a summary of the contents and the
Dissertation, in substance the same as our manuscript 5
the response concluding as follows :
« Such is the anatomy of this celebrated work. I
might have given it ina manner more extended and
24 DE TRIBUS IMPOSTORIBUS.
more minute ; but besides that this letter is already too
long, I think that enough has been said to give insight
into the nature of its contents. A thousand other
reasons which you will well enough understand, have
prevented me from entering upon it to so great length
as I could have done; ** Ast modus in rebus." *
*Now although this book were ready to be printedt
with the preface in which I have given its history, and
its discovery, with some conjectures as to its origin,
and a few remarks which may be placed at its conclu-
sion, yet I do not believe that it will live to see the day
when men will be compelled all at once to quit their
opinions and their imaginations, as they have quitted
their syllogisms, their canons, and their other anti-
quated modes. As for me I will not expose myself to
the Theological stylus{—which I fear as much as Fra-
Poula feared the Roman stylus—to afford to a few
learned men the pleasure of reading this little treatise ;
but neither will I be so superstitious, on my death bed,
as to cause it to be thrown into the flames, which we
are informed was done by Salvius, the Swedish am-
* There is a measure in everything.
+As to the printing of the book they can bring forward no proof
whatever of its having being done prior to this date (1716) and it is
impossible to conceive that Frederick, surrounded as he was by enemies,
would have circulated a work which gave a fair opportunity of proclaim-
ing his infidelity. It is probable therefore that there were only two
copies, the original one and that sent to Otho of Bavaria. Ja Le Ry Le
¢ This phrase is frequently employed to express ecclesiastical criti-
cism. Its first application however had a more pungent meaning. The
individual here alluded to having boldly assailed the errors of the Church
was attacked one evening by an assassin. Fortunately the blow did not
prove fatal; but the weapon (a stylus, or dagger, which is also the Latin
name for a pen) having been left in the wound, on his recovery he wore it
in his girdle labelled, ‘The Theological Stylus," or Pen of the Church.
The trenchant powers of this instrument have more frequently been em-
ployed to repress truth, than to refute argument.
LES TROIS IMPOSTEURS. 25
bassador, at the peace of Munster. Those who come
after me may do what seems to them good—they can
not disturb me in the tomb. Before I descend to that,
I remain with much respect, your most obedient ser-
vant, Ta dag Hes Das
“Leyden, ist January, 17106."
'This letter was written by Mr. Pierre Frederick
Arpe, of Kiel, in Holstein; the author of an apology
for Vanini, printed in octavo at Rotterdam, 1712.
DISSERTATION ON THE BOOK OF THE
THREE IMPOSTORS.
More than four hundred years have elapsed since
this little treatise was first mentioned, the title of which
has always caused it to be qualified as impious, pro-
fane and worthy of the fire. I am convinced that none
of those who have mentioned it have read it, and after
having examined it carefully, it can only be said that it
is written with as much discretion as the matter would
allow to a man persuaded of the falsehood of the things
which he attacked, and protected by a powerful prince,
under whose direction he wrote.
'There have been but few scholars whose religious
beliefs were dubious, who have not been credited with
the authorship of this treatise.
Avervoes, a famous Arabian commentator on Aris-
totle's works, and celebrated for his learning, was the
first to whom this production was attributed. He lived
about the middle of the twelfth century when the
** three impostors’’ were first spoken of. He was not
a Christian, as he treated their religion as ‘‘the Im-
possible," nor a Jew, whose law he called ‘‘a Religion
for Children," nor a Mahometan, for he denominated
their belief ‘‘a Religion for Hogs." He finally died a
Philosopher, that is to say, without having subscribed
to the opinions of the vulgar, and that was sufficient to
publish him as the enemy of the law makers of the
three Religions that he had scorned.
Jean Bocala, an Italian scholar of a happy dis-
position, and consequently not much imbued with
THE THREE IMPOSTORS. 27
bigotry, flourished in the middle of the fourteenth cen-
tury. A fable that he ventured in one of his works,
concerning ‘‘ Three Rings," has been regarded as evi-
dence of this execrable book whose author was looked
for, and this was considered sufficient to attribute the
authorship to him long after his death.
Michael Servetus, burned at Geneva (1553) by
the pitiless persecution of Mr. Fohn Calvin, he not
having subscribed either the Trinity or the Redeemer,
it became proper to attribute to him the production of
this impious volume.
Etienne Dolit, a printer at Paris, and who ranked
among the learned, was led to the stake—to which he
had been condemned as a Calvinist in 1543— with a
courage comparable to that of the first martyrs. He
therefore merited to be treated as an atheist, and was
honored as the author of the pamphlet against the
‘Three Impostors.”’
Lucilio Vanini, a Neapolitan, and the most noted
atheist of his time, if his enemies may be believed,
fairly proved before his judges—ho wever he may have
been convinced—the truth of a Providence, and conse-
quently a God. It sufficed however for the persecution
of his enemies, the Parliament of Toulouse, who con-
demned him to be burned as an atheist, and also to
merit the distinction of having composed, or at least
having revived, the book in question.
I am not sure but what Ochznz and Postel,
Pomponiac and Poggio the Florentine, and Campan-
ella, all celebrated for some particular opinion con-
demned by the Church of their time, were for that
reason accused as atheists, and also adjudged without
trouble, the authors of the little truth for whom a
parent was sought.
28 DIE DREI ERZBETRUEGER.
All that famous critics have published from time
to time of this book has excited the curiosity of the
great and wise to determine the author, but without
avail.
I believe that several treatises printed with the title
“de Tribus Dnpostoribus,? such as that of Kortholt
against SA/nosa, Hobbes and the Baron Cherbourg;
that of the false Panurge against Messieurs Gastardi,
de Neure and Bernter have furnished many opportuni-
ties for an infinity of half-scholars who only speak from
hearsay, and who often judge a book by the first line
of the title. I have, like many others who have
examined this work, done so in a superficial manner.
Though I am a delver in antiquities, and a decipherer
of manuscript, chance having caused the pamphlet to
fall into my hands at one time, I avow that I gave
neither thought to the production nor to its author.
Some business affairs having taken me to Frank-
fort-on-the- Ma?» about the month of April, (1706),
that is about fifteen days after the Fair, I called on a
friend named /yecht, a Lutheran theological student,
whom I had known in Paris. One day I went to his
house to ask him to take me to a bookseller where he
could serve me as interpreter. We called on the way
on a Jew who furnished me with money and who
accompanied us.
Being engaged in looking over a catalog at the
book store, a German officer entered the shop, and said
to the bookseller without any form of compliment,
** [f among all the devils I could find one to agree with
you, I would still go and look for another dealer."
The bookseller replied that ** 500 Rix dollars was an
excessive price, and that he ought to be satisfied with
the 450 that he offered." The officer told him to ‘go
DE LOS TRES IMPOSTORES. 29
to the Devil," as he would do nothing of the sort,
and was about to leave. Fyrecht, who recognized him
as a friend, stopped him and having renewed his
acquaintance, was curious to know what bargain he
had concluded with the bookseller. The officer care-
lessly drew from his pocket a packet of parchment tied
by a cord of yellow silk. ‘I wanted," said he, ** 500
Rix dollars to satisfy me for three manuscripts which
are in this package, but Mr. Bookseller does not wish
to give but 450." Frecht asked if he might see the
curiosities. The officer took them from his pocket,
and the Jew and myself who had been merely spectators
now became interested, and approached Frecht, who
held the three books.
The first which Frecht opened was an Italian
imprint of which the title was missing, and was
supplied by another written by hand which read
* Shecchia della Bestia Triomphante." The
book did not appear of ancient date, and had on the
title neither year nor name of printer.
We passed to the second, which was a manuscript
without title, the first page of which commenced
“OTHONI z//ustrisszmo amico meo charissimo.
F. 1. s. d. This embraced but two lines, after which
followed a letter of which the commencement was
** Ouod de tribus famosissimis Nationum Deceptoribus
in ordinem. Fustu. meo digesti Doctissimus tlle vir,
que cum Sermonem de illa re in Museo meo habuisti
exscribi curavi atque codicem illum stilo aeque, vero
ac puro scriptum ad te ut primum mitto, etenim ipsius
per legendi te accipio cupidissimum."
The other manuscript was also Latin, and without
title like the other. It commenced with these words
— from Cicero if I am not mistaken: ‘An. 1. Iber
30 DEI TRE IMPOSTORI.
de Nat. Deor. Qui Deos esse dixerunt tantu sunt in
Varietate et dissentione constituti ut eorum molestum
sil dinumerare sententias. Altidum frert profecto
potest ut eorum nulla, alterum certi non potest ut plus
unum vera fit. Summi quos in Republica obtinnerat
honores orator tlle Romanus, ea que quam servare
famam Studiote curabat, in causa fuere quod tn
Concione Deos non ansus sit negare quamquam tn
contesta Philosophorum, etc?
We paid but little attention to the Italian pro-
duction, which only interested our Jew, who assured
us that it was an invective against Religion. We
examined several phrases of the latter by which we
mutually agreed that it was a system of Demonstrated
Atheism. The second, which we have mentioned,
attracted our entire attention, and Frecht having
persuaded his friend, whose name was Zausendorf,,
not to take less than 500 Rix dollars, we left the book-
seller's shop, and Frecht, who had his own ideas, took
us to his inn, where he proposed to his friend to empty
a bottle of good wine together. Never did a German
decline a like proposition, so Frecht immediately
ordered the wine, and asked Tausendorfi to tell us
how these manuscripts fell into his possession.
After enjoying his portion of szx bottles of old
Moselle, he told us that after the victory at Hochstadt*
and the flight of the Elector of Bavaria, he was one of
those who entered Munich, and in the palace of His
Highness, he went from room to room until he reached
the library. Here his eyes fell by chance on the pack-
age of parchments with the silk cord, and believing
them to be important papers or curiosities, he could
not resist the temptation of putting them in his pocket.
*Sep. 20, 1703.
DE TRIBUS IMPOSTORIBUS. 31
He was not deceived when he opened the package and
convinced himself. This recital was accompanied by
many soldier-like digressions, as the wine hada little
disarranged the judgment of Tausendorff. Frecht,
who, during the story, perused the manuscript, took
the chance of a refusal by asking his friend to allow
him to take the book until the next day. Tausendorff,
whom the wine had made generous, consented to the
request of Frecht, but he exacted a terrible oath that
he would neither copy it or cause it to be done, prom-
ising to come for it on Sunday and empty some more
bottles of wine, which he found to his taste.
This obliging officer had no sooner left than we
commenced to decipher it. The writing was so small,
full of abbreviations, and without punctuation, that we
were nearly two hours in reading the first page, but as
soon as we were accustomed to the method we com-
menced to read it more easily. I found it so accurate
and written with so much care, that I proposed to
Frecht an equivocal method of making a copy without
violating the oath which he had taken: which method
was to make a translation. The conscience of a theo-
logian did not but find difficulties in such proposal, but
I removed them as I could, assuming the sin myself,
and in the end he consented to work on the translation
which was finished before the time fixed by Tausen-
dorff.
This is the way in which this book came into our
hands. Many would have desired to possess the orig-
inal but we were not rich enough to buy it. The
bookseller had a commission from a Prince of the
House of Saxony, who knew that it had been taken
from the library at Munich, and he was to spare no
effort to secure it, if he found it, by paying the 500
32 LES TROIS IMPOSTEURS.
Rix dollars to Tausendorff who went away several
days after, having regaled us in his turn.
Passing to the origin of the book, and its author,
one can hardly give an account of either only by con-
sulting the book itself in which but little is found
except for the base of conjecture. "There is only a
letter at the beginning, and which is written in another
character from the rest of the book, which gives any
light. We find it addressed OTHOWNY, Ilustrissimo.
The place where the manuscript was found, and the
name OTHO put together warrants the belief that
it was addressed to the Z//ustrious Otho, lord of
Davaria. This prince was grandson of Otho, the
Great; Count of Schiren and Witelspach from
whom the House of Bavaria and the Palatine had
their origin. The Emperor frederick Barbarossa*
had given him Bavaria for his fidelity, after having
taken it from Z/Zeury the Lion to punish him for
his inconsistency in taking the part of his enemies.
Louis I. succeeded his father, Otho the Great,
and left Bavaria—in the possession of which he
*Frederick Barbarossa was Emperor of Germany in 1152 and was
drowned during Crusade in Syria June ro, 1190. He created Henry the
Lion (?Henry VI.) Duke of Bavaria in 1154, expelled him in 1180, and
Henry died 1195.
Otho the Great, Count of Witelspach, was made Duke of Bavaria
1180, and died 1183. He was the grandfather of Otho the Illustrious, who
gained the Palatinate and was assassinated in 1231. He married the
daughter of Henry the Lion about 1230.
Henry VJ succeeded to the Empire on death of his father, Frederick
Barbarossa, 1190, and died 1195—that is if Henry the Lion and Henry VI
are identical.
Frederick II, son of Henry VI, began to reign (?) 1195, and was
living 1243.
The succession of Popes during the period 1152-1254 (Haydn’s Dict.
of Dates), was as follows:
Anastasius IV, 1153, Adrian IV, 1154, (Nicholas Brakespeare, the
only Englishman elected Pope. Frederick 1. prostrated himself before him,
THE THREE IMPOSTORS. 33
had been disturbed by Henry the Lion—to his son
Otho, surnamed the ///ustrious, who assured his
possession by wedding the daughter of Henry. This
happened about the year 1230, when Frederick II.,
Emperor of Germany, returned from Jerusalem,
where, at the solicitation of Pope Gregory LX., he had
pursued the war against the Saracens, and from
whence he returned irritated to excess against the Holy
Father who had incensed his army against him, as well
as the Zemplars and the Patriarch of Ferusalem, until
the Emperor refused to obey the Pope.
Otho the lllustrious recognizing the obligations
that his family were under to the family of the Emperor,
took his part and remained firmly attached to him,
notwithstanding all the vicissitudes of fortune of
Frederick.
Why these historical reminiscences? To sustain
the conjecture that it was to this Otho the Lllustrious
that this copy of the pamphlet of the 7%ree Zmpostors
was addressed. By whom? This is why we are led
to believe that the F.I.s.d which follows L’amico
meo carissimo, and which weinterpret FREDERICUS.
kissed his foot, held his stirrup, and led the white palfrey on which he
rode.)
Alexander III. 1159, (Canonized Thomas à Becket and resisted
Frederick I.) Victor V. 1159, Pascal 111. 1164, Calixtus 117. 1168, Lucius
ITT. 1181.
Urban ITT. 1185, (opposed Frederick I.) Gregory VIII. (2 months)
1187. Clement III. 1187, proclaimed third Crusade.
Celestin I7I. 1191. Innocent ITI. 1198, excommunicated John, King
of England. Honorius III. 1216, learned and pious. Gregory IX. 1227,
preached new Crusade. Celestine IV. 1241. Innocent IV. 1243-1254
(opposed Frederick II.)
lf Frederick JT. caused pamphlet to be written about 1230, 7¢ could not
have been burned by Honorius II1I., who reigned as Pope 1216-1227, but by
Gregory IX, who reigned 1227-1241, who sent Frederick TI. to the Cru-
sades, upset his affairs while he was gone, and against whom the ‘‘ Disser-
tation " says the pamphlet was written.
34 DIE DREI ERZBETRUEGER.
Imperator salutem. Domino. Thus this would be by
The Emperor Frederick II. son of Henry IV. and
grandson of Frederick Barbarossa, who, succeeding
to their Empire, had at the same time inherited the
hatred of the Roman Pontifis.*
Those who have read the history of the Church
and that of the Empire, will recall with what pride and
arrogance the indolent Alexander III. placed his foot
on the neck of Frederick Barbarossa, who came to
him to sue for peace. Who does not know the evil
that the Holy See did to his son Henry V7., against
whom his own wife took up arms at the persuasion of
the Pope? At last Frederick IT. uniting in himself all
the resolution which was wanting in his father and
grandfather, saw the purpose of Gregory LY., who
seemed to have marshalled on his side all the hatred of
Alexander, Innocent and Âlonorius against his
Imperial Majesty. One brought the steel of persecu-
tion, and the other the lightning of excommunication,
and furiously they vied with each other in circulating
infamous libels. This, it seems to me, is warrant
sufficient to apply these happenings to the belief that
this book was by order of the Emperor, who was
incensed against religion by the vices of its Chief, and
written by the Doctzssimus vir, who is mentioned in the
"*Carlyle, in his “ History of Frederick II. of Prussia, called
Frederick the Great," mentions Hermann von der Saltza, a new sagacious
Teutschmeister or Hochmeister (so they call the head of the Order) of the
Teutonic Knights, a far-seeing, negotiating man, who during his long
Mastership (A. D. 1210-1239,) is mostly to be found at Venice and not at
Acre or Jerusalem.
He is very great with the busy Kaiser, Frederick II., Barbarossa's
grandson, who has the usual quarrels with the Pope, and is glad of such a
negotiator, statesman as well as armed monk. A Kaiser zo? gone on the
Crusade, as he had vowed: Kaiser at last suspected of free thinking even:—
in which matters Hermann much serves the Kaiser.— People's Edition,
Boston, 1885, Vol. 1, p. 92.
DE LOS TRES IMPOSTORES. 35
letter as having composed this treatise, and which con-
sequently owes its existence not so much to a search
for truth, as to a spirit of hatred and implacable ani-
mosity.
This conjecture may be further confirmed by
remarking that this book was never mentioned only
since the régime of that Emperor, and even during his
reign it was attributed him, since Prerre des Vignes,
his secretary, endeavored to cast this false impression
on the enemies of his master, saying that they circu-
lated it to render him odious.
Now to determine the Doctésstmus vir who is the
author of the book in question. First, it is certain
that the epoch of the book was that which we have
endeavored to prove. Second, that it was encouraged
by those accused of its authorship, possibly excepting
Avervoes, who died before the birth of Frederick IT.
All the others lived a long time, even entire centuries
after the composition of this work. I admit that it is
difficult to determine the author only by marking the
period when the book first made its appearance, and
in whatever direction I turn, I find no one to whom it
could more probably be attributed than "erre des
Vignes whom I have mentioned.
If we had not his tract ** De poteste Imperiali,"
his other epistles suffice to show with what zeal he
entered into the resentment of Frederick II. (whose
Secretary he was) against the Holy See. Those who
have spoken of him, Zigonius, Trithemus and Raz-
nald?, furnish such an accurate description of him, his
condition and his spirit, that after considering this I can-
not remark but thatthis evidence favors my conjecture.
Again, as I have remarked, he himself spoke of this
book in his epistles, and he endeavored to accuse the
36 DEI TRE IMPOSTORI.
enemies of his master to lessen the clamor made to
encourage the belief that this Prince was the author.
As he had taken the greater part, he did not greatly
exert himself to lessen the injurious noise, so that if
the accusation was strengthened by passing for a long
time from mouth to mouth it would not fall from the
Master on his Secretary, who was probably more
capable of the production than a great Emperor,
always occupied with the clamors of war and always
in fear of the thunders of the Vatican. In one word,
the Emperor, however valiant and resolute, had no
time to become a scholar like Prerre des Vignes, who
had given all the necessary attention to his studies, and
who owed his position and the affection of his Master
entirely to his learning.
I believe that we can conclude from all this, that
this little book Zribus famoszssimus Nationum De-
ceptoribus, for that is its true title, was composed after
the year 1230 by command of the Emperor Frederick
/f,in hatred of the Court of Rome: and it is quite
apparent that Pierre des Vignes, Secretary to the Em-
peror, was the author.*
This is all that I deem proper for a preface to this
little treatise, and as it contains many naughty allusions,
to prevent that in the future, it may not be again
attributed to those who perhaps never entertained such
ideas.
* Pierre des Vignes, suspected of having conspired against the life
of the Emperor, was condemned to lose his eyes, and was handed over to
the inhabitants of Pisa, his cruel enemies: and where despair hastened his
death in an infamous dungeon where he could hold intercourse with no one.
Artie
27 J’ CECILE
As Doe Mae CYA CH LLG IIE
fives Fr Eee 1. c
s
j
i
zd
|
VU 4 pe bi f — |
f - € hi ria fe frre oy m
" CA |
b m i x eO e uu d e Lo |
&
: ^ cx oe A Zu ae eus 7 fem ran,
5 4
* y i
Cle #7! co dduuvco TEE CI ocn Peli na. foo
f ^ i
/) « / >
L ^ $ Bin [rie (^ (cec. ox £ i
j t I
/ 5
ae hee SE
€ F4 DA LA Jo 2 er
Ca TM E:
£ OUI? qx rÜÉ gee
* * * * *
AN 1
NOCTES GE :
à * ( ) H
[s th Ge de be Pecotes Bes Free Le >|
4
; e :
AD Mae Ls (EP 114 tef, * f^ £o Gordons
J fore We E 2.
Ss Ease E
DE TRIBUS IMPOSTORIBUS. 37
FREDERICK EMPEROR
to the very ILLUSTRIOUS OTHO
my very faithful Friend,
GREETING :
I have taken the trouble to have copied the Treatise
which was made concerning the Z7ree Famous
Impostors, by the learned man by whom you were
entertained on this subject, in my study, and though
you have not requested it, I send you the manuscript
entire, in which the purity of style equals the truth of
the matter, for I know with what interest you desired
to read it, and also I am persuaded that nothing could
please you more.
It is not the first time that I have overcome my
cruel enemies, and placed my foot on the neck of the
Roman Hydra whose skin is not more red than the
blood of the millions of men that its fury has sacrificed
to its abominable arrogance.
Be assured that I will neglect nothing to have you
understand that I will either triumph or perish in the
attempt; for whatever reverses may happen to me, I
will not, like my predecessors, bend my knee before
them.
I hope that my sword, and the fidelity of the
members of the Empire; your advice and your assist-
ance will contribute not a little. But nothing would
add more if all Germany could be inspired with the
sentiments of the Doctor—the author of this book.
This is much to be desired, but where are those
capable of accomplishing such a project? I recommend
to you our common interests, live happy. I shall
always be your friend. EL
TREATISE OF THE THREE IMPOSTORS.*
CHAPTER I.
Or Gop.
I.
However important it may be for all men to
know the Truth, very few, nevertheless, are acquainted
with it, because the majority are incapable of searching
it themselves, or perhaps, do not wish the trouble.
Thus we must not be astonished if the world is filled
with vain and ridiculous opinions, and nothing is more
capable of making them current than ignorance, which
is the sole source of the false ideas that exist regarding
the Divinity, the soul, and the spirit, and all the
errors depending thereon.
The custom of being satisfied with born prejudice
has prevailed, and by following this custom, mankind
agrees in all things with persons interested in support-
ing stubbornly the opinions thus received, and who
would speak otherwise did they not fear to destroy
themselves.
*In ‘* Volney's Lectures on History," it is said: ‘If a work be
translated it always receives a colouring which is more or less faint or is
vivid according to the opinions and ability of the Translator." From
an examination of other translations of this Treatise, I am assured that
Volney's statement above has actuated and governed all who have been
previously engaged with this work. I can assure the readers hereof, that
the Treatise contained herein is a literal translation of the manuscript and
the notes found therein, and no liberties bave been taken with the text.
Any additional notes from other sources are so marked. A. N.
LES TROIS IMPOSTEURS. 39
ice
What renders the evil without remedy, is, that
after having established these silly ideas of God,
they teach the people to receive them without examin-
ation. They take great care to impress them with
aversion for philosophers, fearing that the Truth
which they teach will alienate them. The errors in
which the partisans of these absurdities have been
plunged, have thrived so well that it is dangerous to
combat them. It is too important for these impostors
that the people remain in this gross and culpable ignor-
ance than to allow them to be disabused. Thus they
are constrained to disguise the truth, or to be sacrificed
to the rage of false prophets and selfish souls.
Ta.
If the people could comprehend the abyss in which
this ignorance casts them, they would doubtless throw
off the yoke of these venal minds, since it is impossible
for Reason to act without immediately discovering the
Truth. It is to prevent the good effects that would
certainly follow, that they depict it as a monster
incapable of inspiring any good sentiment, and how-
ever we may censure in general those who are not
reasonable, we must nevertheless be persuaded that
Truth is quite perverted. These enemies of Truth fall
also into such perpetual contradictions that it is difficult
to perceive what their real pretensions are. In the
meanwhile it is true that Common Sense is the only
rule that men should follow, and the world should not
be prevented from making use of it.
We may try to persuade, but those who are
appointed to instruct, should endeavor to rectify false
reasoning and efface prejudices, then will the people
40 THE THREE IMPOSTORS.
open their eyes gradually until they become susceptible
of Truth, and learn that God is not all that they
imagine.
IY
To accomplish this, wild speculation is not
necessary, neither is it required to deeply penetrate the
secrets of Nature. Onlya little good sense is needed to
see that God is neither passionate nor jealous, that
justice and mercy are false titles attributed to him, and
that nothing of what the Prophets and Apostles have
said constitutes his nature nor his essence. In effect,
to speak without disguise and to state the case properly,
it is certain that these doctors were neither more
clever or better informed than the rest of mankind,
but far from that, what they say is so gross that it
must be the people only who would believe them.
The matter is self-evident, but to make it more
clear, let us see if they are differently constituted than
other men.
V.
As to their birth and the ordinary functions of life,
it is agreed that they possessed nothing above the
human; that they were born of man and woman and
lived the same as ourselves. But for mind, it must be
that God favored them more than other men, for they
claimed an understanding more brilliant than others.
We must admit that mankind has a leaning toward
blindness, because it is said that God loved the
prophets more than the rest of mankind, that he
frequently communicated with them, and he believed
them also of good faith. Now if this condition was
sensible, and without considering that all men
resembled each other, and that they each had a principle
DIE DREI ERZBETRUEGER. 41
equal in all, it was pretended that these prophets were
of extraordinary attainments and were created expressly
to utter the oracles of God. But further, if they had
more wit than common, and more perfect understand-
ing, what do we find in their writings to oblige us to
have this opinion of them?
The greater part of their writings is so obscure
that it is not understood, and put together in such a
poor manner that we can hardly believe that they com-
prehended it themselves, and that they must have been
very ignorant impostors. 'That which causes this
belief of them is that they boasted of receiving directly
from God all that they announced to the people—an
absurd and ridiculous belief—and avowing that God
only spoke to them in dreams. Dreams are quite
natural, and a person must be quite vain or senseless to
boast that God speaks to him at such a time, and when
faith is added, he must be quite credulous since there
is no evidence that dreams are oracles. Suppose even
that God manifested himself by dreams, by visions, or
in any other way, are we obliged to believe a man who
may deceive himself, and which is worse, who is
inclined to 77e?
Now we see that under the ancient law they had
for prophets none more esteemed than at the present
day. Then when the people were tired of their
sophistry, which often tended to turn them from obedi-
ence to their legitimate Ruler, they restrained them by
various punishments, just as Jesus was overwhelmed
because he had not, like Moses," an army at his back
to sustain his opinions. Added to that, the Prophets
were so in the habit of contradicting each other that
«Moses killed at one time 24,000 men for opposing his law.
42 DE LOS TRES IMPOSTORES.
among four hundred not one reliable one was to be
found.?
It is even certain that the aim of their prophecies,
as well as the laws of the celebrated legislators were
to perpetuate their memories by causing mankind to
believe that they had private conference with God.
Most political objects have been projected in such
manner. However, such tricks have not always been
successful for those, who—with the exception of Moses
—had not the means of providing for their safety.
YT.
This being determined, let us examine the ideas
which the Prophets had of God, and we will smile at
their grossness and contradictions. To believe them,
God is a purely corporeal being. J77caÀ sees him
seated. Danzel clothed in white and in the form of an
old man, and ZzeZze/like a fire. So much for the
Old Testament, now for the New. The disciples of
J. €. imagined the Holy Spirit in the figure of a dove ;
the apostles, in the form of tongues of fire, and ,Sf.
Paul, as a light which dazzled the sight unto blindness.
To show their contradictory opinions, Samuel,
(I. ch. 15, v. 29), believed that God never repented of
his own resolution. Again, Jeremiah, (ch. 18, v. 10),
says that God repented of a resolve he had taken.
Joel, (ch. 2, v. 13), says that he only repents of the
evil he has done to mankind. Genesis (ch. 4, v. 7),
informs us that man is prone to evil, but that He has
nothing for him but blessings. On the contrary, S¢.
Paul, ( Romans, ch. 9, v. 10), says that men have no
éIt is written in the First Book of Kings, ch. 22, v. 6, that Ahab,
King of Israel, consulted 400 prophets, and found them entirely false in the
success of their predictions.
DEI TRE IMPOSTORI. 43
command of concupiscence except by the grace and
particular calling of God. These are the noble senti-
ments that these good people have of God, and what
they would have us believe. Sentiments, however,
entirely sensible, and quite material as we see, and yet
they say that God has nothing in common with matter,
is a sensible and material being, and that he is some-
thing incomprehensible to our understanding. I should
like to be informed how these contradictions may be
harmonized, and how, under such visible and palpable
conditions it is proper to believe them. Again, how
can we accept the testimony of a people so clownish
that they, notwithstanding all the artifices of Moses,
should imagine a ca/f to be their God! But not
considering the dreams of a race raised in servitude,
and among the superstitious, we can agree that ignor-
ance has produced credulity, and credulity falsehood,
from whence arises all the errors which exist today.
CHAPTER. IL.
REASONS WHICH HAVE CAUSED MANKIND TO CREATE
FOR THEMSELVES AN INVISIBLE BEING
WHICH HAS BEEN COMMONLY
CALLED Gop.
I,
Those who ignore physical causes have a natural
fear born of doubt. Where there exists a power
which to them is dark or unseen, from thence comes a
desire to pretend the existence of invisible Beings, that
is to say their own phantoms which they invoke in
adversity, whom they praise in prosperity, and of whom
in the end they make Gods. And as the visions of
men go to extremes, must we be astonished if there
are created an innumerable quantity of Divinities? It
is the same perceptible fear of invisible powers which
has been the origin of Religions, that each forms to his
fashion. Many individuals to whom it was important
that mankind should possess such fancies, have not
scrupled to encourage mankind in such beliefs, and
they have made it their law until they have prevailed
upon the people to blindly obey them by the fear of
the future.
LL.
The Gods having thus been invented, it is easy to
imagine that they resembled man, and who, like them,
created everything for some purpose, for they unani-
mously agree that God has made nothing except for
DE TRIBUS IMPOSTORIBUS. 45
man, and reciprocally that man is made only for God.*
This conclusion being general, we can see why man
has so thoroughly accepted it, and know for that
reason that they have taken occasion to create false
ideas of good and evil, mertt and sii, praise and blame,
order and confusion, beauty and deformity—and sim-
ilar qualities.
LEE
It should be agreed that all men are born in pro-
found ignorance, and that the only thing natural to
them is a desire to discover what may be useful and
proper, and evade what may be inexpedient to them.
Thence it follows first, that we believe that to be free
it suffices to feel personally that one can wish and
desire without being annoyed by the causes which dis-
pose us to wish and desire, because we do not know
them. Second, it consequently occurs that men are
contented to do nothing but for one object, that is to
say, for that object which is preferable above all, and
that is why they have a desire only to know the final
result of their action, imagining that after discovering
this they have no reason to doubt anything. Now as
they find in and about themselves many means of pro-
curing what they desire: having, for example, ears to
hear, eyes to see, animals to nourish, a sun to give
light, they have formed this reasoning, that there is
nothing tn nature which was not made for them, and
of which they may dispose and enjoy. Then reflect-
ing that they did not make this world, they believe it
to be a well-founded proposition to imagine a Supreme
Being who has made it for them such as it is, for after
*Man is the noblest work of God—but nobody ever said so but man.
-— Fra Elbertus.
46 LES TROIS IMPOSTEURS.
satisfying themselves that /Ley could not have made it,
they conclude that it was the work of one or several
Gods who intended it for the use and pleasure of man
alone. On the other hand, the nature of the Gods
whom man has admitted, being unknown, they have
concluded in their own minds that these Gods suscep-
tible of the same passions as men, have made the earth
only for them, and that man to them was extremely
precious. But as each one has different inclinations it
became proper to adore God according to the humor
of each, to attract his blessings and to cause Him to
make all Nature subject to his desires.
IV.
By this method this precedent becomes Superstition,
and it is implanted so that the grossest natures are
believed capable of penetrating the doctrine of final
causes as if they had perfect knowledge. Thus in
place of showing that nature has made nothing in
vain, they show that God and Nature dream as well as
men, and that they may not be accused of doubting
things, let us see how they have put forth their false
reasoning on this subject.
Experience causing them to see a myriad of incon-
veniences marring the pleasure of life, such as storms,
earthquakes, sickness, famine and thirst, they draw the
conclusion that nature has not been made for them
alone. They attribute all these evils to the wrath of
the Gods, who are vexed by the offences of man, and
they cannot be disabused of these ideas by the daily
instances which should prove to them that blessings
and evils have been always common to the wicked and
the good, and they will not agree to a proposition so
plain and perceptible.
THE THREE IMPOSTORS. 47
The reason for that is, it is more easy to remain in
ignorance than to abolish a belief established for many
centuries and introduce something more probable.
as
This precedent has caused another, which is the
belief that the judgments of God were incompre-
hensible, and that for this reason, the knowledge of
truth is beyond the human mind; and mankind would
still dwellin error were it not that mathematics and
several other sciences had destroyed these prejudices.
VI.
By this it may be seen that Nature or God does
not propose any end, and that all final causes are but
human fictions. A long lecture is not necessary since
this doctrine takes away from God the perfection
ascribed to him, and this is how it may be proved. If
God acted for a result, either for himself or another, he
desires what he has not, and we must allow that there
are times when God has not the wherewith to act; he
has merely desired it and that only creates an impotent
God. To omit nothing that may be applied to this
reasoning, let us oppose it with those of a contrary
nature. If, for example, a stone falls on a person and
kills him, it is well known they say, that the stone fell
with the design of killing the man, and that could only
happen by the will of God. If you reply that the wind
caused the stone to drop at the moment the man passed,
they will ask why the man should have passed precisely
at the time when the wind moved the stone. If you
say that the wind was so severe that the sea was also
troubled since the day before while there appeared to
be no agitation in the air, and the man having been
48 DIE DRE! ERZBETRUEGER.
invited to dine with a friend, went to keep his appoint-
ment. Again they ask, for the man never got there,
why he should be the guest of his friend at this time
more than another, adding questions after questions,
finally avowing that it was but the will of God, ( which
is a true ** asses bridge’’) and the cause of this misfor-
tune.
Again when they note the symmetry of the human
body, they stand in admiration and conclude how
ignorant they are of the causes of a thing which to
them appears so marvelous, that it is a supernatural
work, in which the causes known to us could have no
part.
'Thence it comes that those who desire to know
the real cause of supposed miracles and penetrate like
true scholars into their natural causes without amusing
themselves with the prejudice of the ignorant, it hap-
pens that the true scholar passes for impious and
heretical by the malice of those whom the vulgar
recognize as the expounders of ature and of God.
These mercenary individuals do not question the
ignorance which holds the people in astonishment, upon
whom they subsist and who preserve their credit.
VIL
Mankind being thus of the ridiculous opinion that
all they see is made for themselves, have made it a
religious duty to apply it to their interest, and of judg-
ing the price of things by the profit they gain. Thence
proceed the ideas they have formed of good and evil,
of order and confusion, of heat and cold, of beauty
and woiness, which serve to explain to them the nature
of things, which in the end are not what they imagine.
Because they pride themselves in having free will they
DE LOS TRES IMPOSTORES. 49
judge themselves capable of deciding between frase
and ó/ame, stn and merit, calling everything good
which redounds to their profit and which concerns
divine worship, and to the contrary denominate as
evil that which agrees with neither. Because the
ignorant are not capable of judging what may be a little
abstruse, and having no idea of things only by the aid
of imagination which they consider understanding,
these folk who know not what represents Order in the
world believe all that they imagine. Man being
inclined in such a manner that they think things well or
ill ordered as they have the facility or trouble to con-
clude when good sense would teach differently. Some
are more pleased to be weary of the means of investi-
gation, being satisfied to remain as they are, preferring
order to confusion, as if order was another thing than
a pure effect of the imagination of man, so that when
it is said that God has made everything in order, it is
recognizing that he has that faculty of imagination as
well as man. If it was not so, perhaps to favor human
imagination they pretend that God created this world
in the easiest manner imaginable, although there are
an hundred things far above the force of imagination,
and an infinity which may be thrown into disorder by
reason of weakness.
VII.
For other ideas, they are purely the effect of the
same imagination, which have nothing real, and which
are but the different modes of which this power is
capable. For example, if the movement which objects
impress upon the nerves by the means of the eyes is
agreeable to the senses, we say that these objects are
beautiful, that odors are good or bad, that tastes are
50 DEI TRE IMPOSTORI.
sweet or bitter, that which we touch hard or soft,
sounds, harsh or agreeable. According as odors, tastes
or sounds strike and penetrate the senses, just so we
find a belief that God is capable of taking pleasure in
melody, that the celestial movements are a harmonious
concert, proof evident that each one. believes that
things are such as they are imagined, or that the world
is purely imaginary. ‘That is why we should not be
surprised if we rarely found two men of the same
opinion, and some who glorify themselves in doubting
everything. For while men have bodies which resem-
ble each other in many particulars, they differ in some
others, and it should not astonish us that what seems
good to one appears bad to another: what pleases this
one displeases the other, from which we may infer that
opinions only differ by fancy, that understanding passes
for little, and to conclude, things which happen every
day are purely the effects of imagination. If one
should consult the lights of understanding of philos-
ophers he would have faith that everybody would
agree to the truth, and that judgments would be more
uniform and reasonable than they are.
IX.
It is then evident that all the reasons of which
men are accustomed to avail themselves when they
endeavor to explain Nature, are only methods of imag-
ination which prove nothing less than they pretend,
and because they have given to these reasons names so
real that if they existed otherwise than in imagination
I would not call them reasonable beings, but purely
chimerical, seeing nothing more easy than to respond
to arguments founded on these vulgar notions and
which we oppose as follows.
DE TRIBUS IMPOSTORIBUS. 5I
If it was true that the universe was a chance hap-
pening, and a necessary sequel of divine nature, whence
come the imperfections and faults which we remark?
For example, corruption which fills the air with bad
odor, many disagreeable objects, so many disorders,
so much evil, so many crimes and other like occur-
rences. Nothing is more easy than to refute these
objections, for one cannot judge of the perfection of
ancient existence only by knowing its essence and
nature, and we deceive ourselves in thinking that a
thing is more or less perfect, as it pleases or displeases,
is useful or useless to human nature ; and to close the
mouths of those who ask why God has not created all
men without exception that they might be guided by
the light of reason, it is enough to say that it was be-
cause the material was not sufficient to give each being
the degree of perfection that was most suitable for him,
or to speak more proper, because the laws of nature
were so ample and extensive that they could suffice for
the production of all things of which an infinite under-
standing is capable.
COAPTER LT,
WHAT Gop Is.
Te
Until now we have fought the popular idea con-
cerning the Divinity, but we have not yet said what
God is, and if we were asked, we should say that the
word represents to us an Infinite Being, of whom one
of his attributes is to be a substance of extent and con-
sequently eternal and infinite. The extent or the
quantity not being finite or divisible, it may be imagined
that the matter was everywhere the same, our under-
standing not distinguishing parts. For example,
water, as much as water is imagined, is divisible, and
its parts separable from one another, though as much
as a corporeal substance it is neither separable nor
divisible.* Thus neither matter or quantity have any-
thing unworthy of God, for if all is God, and all comes
surely from his essence, it follows quite absolutely that
He is all that he contains, since it is incomprehensible
that Beings quite material should be contained in a
Being who is not. That we may not think that this is
a new opinion, Zeríu//iaz, one of the foremost men
among the Christians, has pronounced against Apelles,
that, ‘that which is not matter is nothing," and
against Praxzas, that ‘fall substance is matter,"
*So of water, however, it may be subject to generation and corrup-
tion, as long as it is substance it is not subject to separation and division.
LES TROIS IMPOSTEURS. 53
without having this doctrine condemned in the four
first Councils of the Christian Church, ecumenical and
general.
II.
These sentiments are plain and the only ones that
good and sound judgment can form of God. | How-
ever, there are but few who are satisfied with such
simplicity. Boorish people, who are accustomed to
adulation of opinion, demand a God who resembles
earthly kings. The pomp and circumstance surround-
ing them so fascinates, that to take away all hope of
going after death to increase the number of heavenly
courtiers enjoying the same pleasure which attaches to
the Court of Kings, is to take away the consolation and
the only things which prevent them from going to
despair over the miseries of life. They want a just
and avenging God, who rewards and punishes after
the manner of kings, a God susceptible of all human
passions and weaknesses. They give him feet, hands,
and ears, and yet they do not regard a God so consti-
tuted as material. They say that man is his master-
piece, and even his own image, but do not allow that
the copy is like the original. In a word, the God of
the people of today is subject to as many forms as
Jupiter of the Pagans, and what is still more strange,
these follies contradict each other and shock good
sense. The vulgar reverence them because they firmly
believe what the Prophets have said, although these
aThe four first Councils were r. That of Nice in the year 345, under
the Emperor Constantine the Great, and under Pope Sylvester I.; 2. That
of Constantinople in the year 381, under the Emperors Gratian, Valentinian
and Theodore and the Pope Damase I.; 3. That of Ephesus in the year 431,
under the Emperor Theodore, the younger, and Valentinian and under the
Pope Celestin; 4. That of Chalcedon in the year 451, under Valentinian
and Martian, and under Pope Leo I.
54 THE THREE IMPOSTORS.
visionaries among the Hebrews, were the same as the
augurs and the diviners among the pagans.* "They
consult the Bible as if God or nature was therein
expounded to them in a special manner, however this
book is only a rhapsody of fragments, gathered at
various times, selected by several persons, and given to
the people according to the fancy of the Rabbins, who
did not publish them until after approving some, and
rejecting others, and seeing if they were conformable
or opposed to the Law of Moses." Yes, such is the
malice and stupidity of men that they prefer to pass
their lives disputing with one another, and worshipping
a book received from ignorant people; a book with
little order or method, which everyone admits as con-
fused and badly conceived, only serving to foment
divisions.
Christians would rather adore this phantom than
listen to the law of Nature which God—that is to say,
Nature, which is the active principle—has written in the
heart of man. All other laws are but human fictions,
and pure illusions forged, not by Demons or evil spirits,
which are fanciful ideas, but by the skill of Princes and
Ecclesiastics to give the former more warrant for their
authority, and to enrich the latter by the traffic in an
infinity of chimeras which sell to the ignorant at a good
price.
All other laws are not supported save on the
authority of the Bible, in the original of which appear
*These. among us, are the Astrologers and Fanatics.
aThe Talmud remarks that the Rabbins deliberated whether they
should omit the Book of Proverbs and that of Ecclesiastes from the number
of canonicals, and would have done so had they not found in several plaees
that they eulogized the Mosaic law. They would have done the same with
the prophecies of Ezekiel had not a certain Chananias undertook to har-
monize them with the same law.
DIE DREI ERZBETRUEGER. 55
a thousand instances of extraordinary and impossible
things,’ and which speaks only of recompenses or
punishments for good or bad actions, but which are
wisely deferred for a future life, relying that the trick
will not be discovered in this, no one having returned
from the other to tell the news. Thus, men kept ever
wavering between hope and fear, are held to their duty
by the belief they aver that God has created man only
to render him eternally happy or unhappy, and which
has given rise to the infinity of religions which we are
about to discuss.
&The versions that we have differ greatly in a thousand places, one
with another, until the end of the book.
# i>
CHAPTER: CF.
WHAT THE WORD RELIGION SIGNIFIES, AND HOW AND
WHY SUCH A GREAT NUMBER HAVE BEEN
INTRODUCED IN THE WORLD.
i
Before the word Religion was introduced in the
world mankind was only obliged to follow natural laws
and to conform to common sense. This instinct alone
was the tie by which men were united, and so very
simple was this bond of unity, that nothing among
them was more rare than dissensions. But when fear
created a suspicion that there were Gods, and invisible
powers, they raised altars to these imaginary beings,
so that in putting off the yoke of Nature and Reason,
which are the sources of true life, they subjected them-
selves by vain ceremonies and superstitious worship to
frivolous phantoms of the imagination, and that is
whence arose this word Religion which makes so much
noise in the world.
Men having admitted invisible forces which were
all-powerful over them, they worshipped them to
appease them, and further imagined that Nature was a
being subordinate to this power, thence they had the
idea that it was a great mace that threatened, or a slave
that acted only by the order that such power gave him.
Since this false idea had broken their will they had
only scorn for Nature, and respect only for those pre-
tended beings that they called their Gods. Thence
came the ignorance in which mankind was plunged,
DE LOS TRES IMPOSTORES. 57
and from which the well-informed, however deep the
abyss, could have rescued them, if their zeal had not
been extinguished by those who led them blindly, and
who lived by imposture. But though there was but
little appearance of success in the enterprise, it was
not necessary to abandon the party of truth, and only
in consideration of those who were afflicted with the
symptoms of so great an evil, were generous souls
available to represent matters as they were.
IT:
Fear which created Gods, made also Religion, and
when men imbibed the notion that there were invisible
agencies which were the cause of their good and bad
fortune, they lost their good sense and reason substi-
tuting for their chimeras so many Dévinitzes who had
care of their conduct.
After having forged these Gods they were curious
to know of what matter they consisted, and finally
imagined that they should be of the same substance as
the soul. Then being persuaded that the latter resem-
bled the shadows which appear in a mirror, or during
sleep, they believed that some Gods were real sub-
stances but so thin and subtile that to distinguish them
from bodies they called them Sfzrzts. So that bodies
and spirits were in effect the same thing, and differed
neither more nor less, and to be of corporeal and
incorporeal is a most incomprehensible thing. The
reason given is that each spirit has a proper form, and
is included within some limit, that is to say that it has
some boundaries, and consequently must be a body
however thin and subtile it might be.*
* See Tertullian ante, also Hobbes’ Leviathan, C. 12, p. 56.
58 DEI TRE IMPOSTORI.
TET
The ignorant, that is, the greater part of mankind
having settled in this manner the substance of their
Gods, tried also to determine by what methods these
invisible powers produced their effects. Not being
able to do this definitely by reason of their ignorance,
they put faith in their conjectures, blindly judging the
future by the past, while seeing neither cohesion nor
dependence.
In all that they undertook they saw but the past,
and foretold good or evil for the future according as
the same enterprise had at another time turned out
either good or bad. Phormion having defeated the
Lacedemonians at the battle of /Vaupacte, the Athe-
nians, after his death, chose another general of the
same name: Hannibal having succumbed to the arms
of Scipio Africanus, the Romans, remembering this
great success, sent another Sczpzo to the same country
against Cesar, which acts gained nothing for either the
Athenians or the Romans. So after two or three
experiences, good or bad fortune is made synonomous
with certain zames or places; others make use of
certain words called exchantments, which they believe
to be efficacious ; some cause trees to speak, create
man from a morsel of bread, and transform anything
that may appear before them. (Hobbes! Leviathan
de homine. Cap. 12, p. 56-57.)
IV.
Invisible powers being established in this way,
straightway men revere them only as they do their
rulers, that is to say, by tokens of submission and
respect, as witness offerings, prayers, and similar
things, I say at first, for nature has not yet learned to
DE TRIBUS IMPOSTORIBUS. 59
use on such occasions sacrifices of blood, which have
only been instituted for the benefit of the sacrificers
and the ministers called to the service of these beautiful
Gods.
V.
These causes of Æeligion, that is, Hope and
Fear, leaving out the passions, judgments and various
resolutions of mankind, have produced the great
number of extravagant beliefs which have caused so
much evil, and the many revolutions which have con-
vulsed the nations.
The honor and revenue which attaches to the
priesthood, and which has since been accorded to the
ministry of the Gods, and those having ecclesiastical
charges, inflame the ambition and the avarice of cun-
ning individuals who profit by the stupidity of the
people, who readily submit in their weakness, and we
know how insensibly is caused the easy habit of
encouraging falsehood and hating truth.
NI.
'The empire of falsehood being established, and the
ambitious ones encouraged by the advantage of being
above their fellows, the latter endeavor to gain repute
by a pretense of being friendly with the invisible Gods
whom the vulgar fear. For better success, each
schemes in his own way, and multiplies deities so that
they are met at every turn.
VII.
The formless matter of the world they term the
god Chaos, and the same honor is accorded to heaven,
earth, the sea, the wind, and the planets, and they are
made both male and female. Further on we find dzrds,
60 LES TROIS IMPOSTEURS.
reptiles, the crocodile, the ca/f, the dog, the lamb, the
serpent, the hog, and in fact all kinds of animals and
plants constitute the better part. Each river and foun-
tain bears the name of a God, each house had its own,
each man his genius; in fact all space above and
beneath the earth was occupied by spirits, shades and
demons. It was not sufficient to maintain a Divinity in
all imaginable places, but they feared to offend 7zme,
day, night, concord, love, peace, victory, contention,
mildew, honor, virtue, fever, and health, or to insult
these charming divinities whom they always imagined
ready to discharge lightning on the heads of men, pro-
vided temples and altars were not erected to them.
As a sequel, man commenced to fear his own
special genius, whom some invoked under the name of
Muses, and others under the name of Fortune adored
their own ignorance. The latter sanctified their
debauches in the name of Cupid, their rage in the
name of Z"urzes, and their natural parts under the name
of Priapus, in a word, there was nothing which did not
bear the name of a God or a Demon. (Hobbes de
homine, Chap. 12, p. 58.)
VIII.
The founders of Religion having based their
impostures on the ignorance of the people, took great
care to maintain them by the adoration of images
which they pretended were inhabited by the Gods, and
this caused a flood of gold and benefactions called holy
things, to pour into the coffers of the priests. "These
gifts were regarded as sacred, and designed for the use
of these holy ministers, and none were so audacious as
to pretend to their office, or even to touch them. To
allure the people more successfully, these priests made
THE THREE IMPOSTORS. 61
prophecies and pretended to penetrate the future by the
commerce which they boasted of having with the Gods.
There is nothing so natural as to know destiny. These
impostors were too well informed to omit any circum-
stance so advantageous for their designs. Some were
established at De/os, others at Delphos and elsewhere,
where by ambiguous oracles they replied to the
demands made of them. Women even were engaged
in these impostures, and the Romans in their great
Calamities had recourse to the Sybilline books ; fools
and lunatics passed for enfhustasts, and those who pre-
tended to converse with the dead were called zecrom-
ancers.
Others read the future by the flight of birds, or by
the entrails of beasts. Indeed the eyes, the hands, the
face, or an extraordinary object, all seemed to them to
possess a good or bad omen, so it is true that the
ignorant will receive any desired impression when the
secret of their wish is found. (Hobbes! de homzne,
Chap. 12, pp. 58-59.)
CHAPTER V.
Or Moszs.
I.
The ambitious, who have always been grand
masters of the art of trickery, have always followed
this method in expounding their laws, and to oblige
the people to submit to them they have persuaded them
that they had received them either from a God or a
Goddess.
Although there was a multitude of Divinities, those
who worshipped them called Pagans had no general
system of Religion. Each republic, each state and
city, each particular place had its own rites and thought
of the Divinity as fancy dictated. Following this came
legislators more cunning than these first tricksters, and
who employed methods more studied and more certain
for the propagation and perpetuity of their laws, as
well as the culture of such ceremonies and fanaticism
as they deemed proper to establish.
Among the great number Arabia and its frontiers
has given birth to three who have been distinguished
as much by the kind of laws and worship which they
established, as by the idea they have given of a Divinity
to their followers, and the means they have taken to
cause this idea to be received and their laws to be
approved.
Moses is the most ancient; Yesws coming after
labored after his manner in preserving the foundation
of his laws while abolishing the remainder; and Ma-
DIE DREI ERZBETRUEGER. 63
homet appearing later on the scene has taken from one
and the other religion to compose his own, and there-
fore he is declared the enemy of all the Gods.
Let us see the character of these three Legislators,
examine their conduct, and then judge afterwards who
are the best founded: those who revered them as Holy
men and Gods, or those who treated them as schemers
and impostors.
ll.
The celebrated 7Zoses, grandson of a great magi-
cian,* by the account of Swstin Martyr, had all the
advantages proper for what he afterwards became. It
is well known that the Hebrews, of whom he became
the Chief, were a nation of shepherds whom King
Pharaoh Orus I. received in his country in considera-
tion of services that he had received from one of them
in the time of a great famine. He gave them some
lands in the east of Egypt in a country fertile in pas-
turage, and consequently adapted for their flocks.
During 200 years they rapidly increased, because,
being considered foreigners they were not required to
serve in the armies of Pharaoh, and because of the
natural advantages of the lands which Orzs had granted
them. Some bands of Arabs came to join them as
brothers, for they were of a similar race, and they in-
creased so astonishingly that the land of Goshen not
being able to contain them they spread all over Egypt,
giving Pharaoh Memnon II. good reason to fear that
they might be capable of some dangerous attempt in
case Egypt was attacked (as happened soon after) by
their active enemies, the Ethiopians.
*This word must not be taken in the ordinary sense, for what is
called a magician among learned people means an adroit man, a skillful
charlatan, and a subtle juggler whose entire art consists in dexterity and
skill, and not in any compact with the devil as the common people believe.
64 DE LOS TRES IMPOSTORES.
Thus a policy of state compelled this Prince to
curtail their privileges, and to seek means to weaken
and enslave them. Pharaoh Orus II. surnamed Pusiris
because of his cruelty, and who succeeded Memnon,
followed his plan regarding the Jews. Wishing to
perpetuate his memory by the erection of the Pyramids
and building the city of Thebes, he condemned the
Hebrews to labor at making bricks, the material in the
earth of their country being adapted for this purpose.
During this servitude the celebrated Joses was born,
in the same year that the King issued an edict to cast
all the male Hebrew children into the Nile, seeing that
he had no surer means of exterminating this rabble of
foreigners.
Moses was exposed to perish in the waters in a
basket covered with pitch, which his mother placed in
the rushes on the banks of the river. It chanced that
Thermitis, daughter of Orus, was walking near the
shore and hearing the cries of the child, the natural
compassion of her sex inspired her to save it.
Orus having died, Thermitis succeeded him, and
Moses having been presented to her, she caused him
to be educated in a manner befitting the son of a Queen
of the wisest and most polished nation of the universe.
In a word he was tutored in all the science of the
Egyptians, and it is admitted, and they have repre-
sented Moses to us as the greatest politician, the wisest
philosopher and the most famous #agician of his time.
It followed that he was admitted to the order of Priest-
hood, which was in Egypt what the Zrwzds were in
Gaul, that is to say—everything.
Those who are not familiar with what the govern-
ment of Egypt was, will be pleased to know that the
famous dynasties having come to an end, the entire
DEI TRE IMPOSTORI. 65
country was dependent upon one Sovereign who divided
it into several provinces of no great extent. The gov-
ernors of these countries were called monarchs, and
they were ordinarily of the powerful order of Priests,
who possessed nearly one-third of Egypt. The king
named these monarchs, and if we can believe the
authors who have written of Moses and compare what
they have said with what Moses himself has written,
we may conclude that he was monarch of the land of
Goshen, and that he owed his elevation to Thermitis,
who had also saved his life.
We see what Moses was in Egypt, where he had
both time and means to study the manners of the
Egyptians, and those of his nation: their governing
passions, their inclinations, and all that would be of
service to him in his effort to excite the revolution of
which he was the promoter.
Thermitis having died, her successor renewed the
persecution against the Hebrews, and A/oses having
lost his previous favor, and fearing that he could not
justify several homicides that he had committed, took
the precaution to flee.
He retired to Arabia Petrea, on the confines of
Egypt, and chance brought him to the home of a tribal
chief of the country. His services, and the talents
that his master remarked in him, merited his good
graces and one of his daughters in marriage. It is here
to be noted that Moses was such a bad Jew, and knew
so little of the redoubtable God whom he invented
later, that he wedded an idolatress, and did not even
think of having his children circumcised.
It was in the Arabian deserts, while guarding the
flocks of his father-in-law and brother-in-law, he con-
ceived the design of avenging the injustice which had
66 DE TRIBUS IMPOSTORIBUS.
been done him by the King of Egypt, by bringing
trouble and sedition in the court of his states; and he
flattered himself that he could easily succeed in this by
reason of his talents, as by the disposition which he
knew he would find in his nation already incensed
against the government by reason of the bad treatment
that they had been caused to suffer.
It appears by the history which he has told of this
revolution, or at least by the author of the books
attributed to Moses, that e/Aro, his brother-in-law,
was in the conspiracy, as well as his brother Aaron
and his sister JZary, who had remained in Egypt, and
with whom he could arrange to hold correspondence.
As may be seen by the sequel he had formed a vast
plan in good politics, and he could put in service
against Eeypt all the science he had learned there,
and the pretended Magic in which he was more subtle
and skillful than all those at the Court of Pharaoh who
possessed the same accomplishments. It was by these
pretended miracles that he gained the confidence of
those of his nation that he caused to rebel. He joined
to them thousands of mutinous Egyptians, Ethiopians
and Arabs. Boasting the power of his Divinity and
the frequent interviews he held with Him, and causing
Him to intervene in all the measures he took with the
chiefs of the revolt, he persuaded them so well that
they followed him to the number of 600,000 combatants
—besides the women and children—across the deserts
of Arabia, of which he knew all the windings.
After a six days march on a laborious retreat, he
commanded his followers to consecrate the seventh to
his God by a public rest, to make them believe that
this God favored him, that he approved his sway, and
that no one could have the audacity to contradict him.
LES TROIS IMPOSTE URS. 67
There were never any people more ignorant than
the Hebrews, and consequently none more credulous.
To be convinced of this profound ignorance, it is only
necessary to recall the condition of these people in
Egypt when Moses made them revolt. They were
hated by the Egyptians because of their pastoral life,
persecuted by the Sovereign and employed in the vilest
labor.
Among such a populace it was not very difficult for
Moses to avail himself of his talents. He made them
believe that his God (whom he sometimes simply
called an azge/)—the God of their Fathers—appeared
to him, that it was by his order that he took care to
lead them, that he had chosen him for Governor, and
that they would be the favored people of this God,
provided they believed what he said on his part.
He added to his exhortations on the part of his
God, the adroit use of his prestige, and the knowledge
that he had of nature. He confirmed what he said to
them by what might be called mzracles, always easy
to perform, and which made a great impression on an
imbecile populace.
It may be remarked above all, that he believed he
had found a sure method for holding this people sub-
missive to his orders, in making accessory of the state-
ment that God himself was their leader: by night a
column of fire and a cloud by day. But it can be
proved that this was the grossest trick of this impostor,
and that it might serve him for a long time. He had
learned during his travels that he had made in Arabia,
a country vast and uninhabited, that it was the custom
of those who traveled in companies to take guides who
conducted them in the night by means of a brazier, the
flame of which they followed, and in the day time by
68 THE THREE IMPOSTORS.
the smoke of the same brazier which all the members
of the caravan could see, and consequently not go
astray. ‘This custom prevailed among the Medes and
Assyrians, and it is quite natural that Moses used it,
and made it pass for a mdrac/e, and a mark of the
protection of his God. If I may not be believed when
I say that this was a trick, let Moses himself be
believed, who in Numbers, Chap. x. v. 29-33, asks his
brother-in-law, Hobab, to come with the Israelites,
that he may show them the roads, because he knew the
country. This is demonstrative, for if it was God who
marched before Israel night and day in the cloud and
the column of fire could they have a better guide?
Meanwhile here is Moses exhorting his brother-in-law
by the most pressing motives of interest to serve him
as Guide. Then the clowd and the column of fire was
God only for the people, and not for Moses, who
knew what it was.
These poor unfortunates thus seduced, charmed at
being adopted by the Master of God, as they were
told, emerging from a hard and cruel bondage,
applauded Moses and swore to obey him. His authority
was thus confirmed. He sought to perpetuate it, and
under pretext of establishing divine worship, or of a
supreme God of whom he said he was the lieutenant,
he made his brother and his children chiefs of the
Royal Palace, that is to say, of the place where miracles
were performed out of the sight and presence of the
people.
So he continued these pretended miracles, at which
the simple were amazed and others stupefied, but which
caused those who were wise and who saw through
these impostures to pity them. However skillful Moses
was, and how many clever tricks he knew how to do,
DIE DREI ERZBETRUEGER. 69
he would have had much trouble to secure obedience
if he had nota strong army.* Deceit without force has
rarely succeeded.
It was in order to have assured means to maintain
obedience against the discerning that he continued to
place in his own faction those of his tribe, giving them
all the important charges and exempting them from
the greater part of the labors. He knew how to create
jealousies among the other tribes, some of whom took
his part against the others. Finally assuring adroitly
to his interest those who appeared the most enlightened,
by placing them in his confidence, he secured them
by giving them employment of distinction.
After that he found some of these idiots had the
courage to reproach his bad faith ; that under his false
pretense of justice and equity he was seizing everything.
As the sovereign authority was vested in his blood in
such manner that no one had a right to aspire to it,
they considered finally that he was less their father
than their tyrant.
On such occasions Moses by cunning policy con-
founded these /ree-tAzn£ers and spared none who cen-
sured his government.
With such precautions, and cloaking his punish-
ments under the name of Devine vengeance, he con-
tinued absolute, and to finish in the same way he began,
that is to say by deceit and imposture, he chose an
extraordinary death. He cast himself in an abyss in a
lonely place where he retired from time to time under
pretext of conferring with God, and which he had long
* He remained from time to time in a solitary place under pretext of
privately conferring with God, and by this pretended intercourse with the
Divinity he taught them a respect and obedience which was, in the mean-
while, unlimited.
7o DE LOS TRES IMPOSTORES.
designed for his tomb. His body never having been
found, it was believed that his God had taken him, and
that he had become like Him.
He knew that the memories of the patriarchs who
preceded him were held in great veneration when their
sepulchres were found, but that was not sufficient for
an ambition like his. He must be revered as a God for
whom death had no terrors, and to this end all his
efforts were directed since the beginning of his reign
when he said that he was established of God—to be
the God of Pharaoh. Eljah* gave his example, also
Romulus’, Empedocles: and all those who from a
desire to immortalize their names, have concealed the
time and place of their death so that they would be
deemed immortal.
a See Book of Kings, Chapter II.
b Romulus drowned himself in the morass of Cherres, and his body
not being found, it was believed that he was raised to heaven and deified.
When Romulus was reviewing his forces in the plain of Caprae there
suddenly arose a thunderstorm during which he was enveloped in so thick
a cloud that he was lost to the view of his army: nor thereafter on this
earth was Romulus seen. Livy l. r, c. 16.
c Empedocles, a celebrated philosopher, threw himself into the crater
of Mount Etna, to cause the belief that, like Romulus, he was raised to
heaven.
CHAPTER VI.
Or Numa PompiLrus.
To return to the law-givers, there were none who,
having attributed their laws to Divinity, did not
endeavor to encourage the belief that they themselves
were more than human.
Numa, having tasted the delights of solitude, did
not wish to leave it for the throne of Rome, but being
forced by public acclamation, he profited by the devo-
tion of the Romans. He informed them that he had
talked with God, and if they desired him for King they
must observe the Divine laws and institutions which
had been dictated to him by the nymph Zeerza.t
Alexander wished to be considered a son of
Jupiter. Perseus pretended to be a son of the same
God and the virgin Danae; Plato, of Apollo, and a
virgin, which, perhaps, is the cause of the belief among
the Egyptians that the Spirit of God Awbpa Veay*
could get a woman with child as the wind did the
Iberian mares.]
tIt is recorded by Livy (liber II., c. 21,) that there is a grove through
which flowed a perennial stream, taking its origin in a dark cave, in which
Numa was accustomed to meet the goddess, and to receive instructions as
to his political and religious institutions.
*Breath or inspiration of the Gods.
iThe Tartars assert that Genghis Khan was born of a virgin, and that
Foh, according to the Chinese belief, derived his origin from a virgin
rendered pregnant by the rays of the sun.
Since the introduction of the umbrella or sun-shade into the Central
Flowery Kingdom occurrences like the latter have been infrequent.
CHAPTER. VII.
Or Jesus CHRIST.
Fesus Christ, who was not unacquainted with the
maxims and science of the Egyptians, among whom he
dwelt several years, availed himself of this knowledge,
deeming it proper for the design which he meditated.
Considering that Moses was renowned because he
commanded an ignorant people, he undertook to build
on a similar foundation, and his followers were only
some idiots whom he persuaded that the Holy Spirit
was his Father, and his Mother a Virgin.^ These
good people being accustomed to be satisfied with
dreams and fancies, adopted this fable, believed all
that he wished, and even more willingly that a birth
out of the natural order was not so marvelous a
circumstance for them to believe. To be born of a
A Celsus says, in Origen, that Jesus Christ was a native of a little
hamlet in Judea, and that his mother was a poor villager who only existed
by her labor. Having been convicted of adultery with a soldier named
Pandira, she was induced to flee by her betrothed, who was a carpenter by
trade, who condoned their offence, and they wandered miserably from
place to place. She was secretly delivered of Jesus, and finding themselves
in want, they were constrained to flee to Egypt. After several years, his
services being of no value to the Egyptians, he returned to his own country,
where, quite proud of the miracles he knew how to perform, he proclaimed
himself God.
Human nature was at those times not fundamentally different from
what it is now, and we need, therefore, not be surprised to hear that one of
the stalwart Roman warriors, whose name was Pandira, fell in love with
one of the dark-eyed daughters of Nazareth, and that the fruit of their
"illegitimate"! union was a son whom they called Jehoshua, and who inherited
DEI TRE IMPOSTORI. 73
Virgin by the operation of the Holy Spirit,** was, in
their estimation, as wonderful as what the Romans
said of their founder, Romulus, who owed his birth to
a Vestal and a God.
This happened at a time when the Jews were tired
of their God, as they had been of their Judges,® and
wished to have a visible God like other nations. As
the number of fools is infinite, he found followers
every where, but his extreme poverty was an invincible
obstacle to his elevation. The Pharisees, delighted
with the boldness of a man of their sect,^ while startled
at his audacity, elevated or depressed him according to
the fickle humor of the populace, so that when it
became noised about concerning his DZzvmify, it was
impossible—he being possessed of no power—that his
design could succeed. No matter how many sick he
from his father the manly pride of the Roman, and from his Jewish mother
his almost feminine beauty and modesty.
Of Jehoshua's mother, little is to be said. * * * * *
Ignorant, innocent, and of modest manners, uneducated but kind, sympa-
thetic and beautiful, Stada, like many others of her sex, was guided more
by the decision of her heart than by the calculations of her intellect. Her
heart yearned for love and she hoped to find in Pandira the realization of
her ideal.— Life of Fehoshua, The Prophet of Nazareth, an Occult Study
anda Key to the Bible. Franz Hartmann, M. D., Boston, 1889.
** A beautiful dove overshadowed a virgin; there is nothing surpris-
ing in that. It happened frequently in Lydia, and the swan of Leda is the
counterpart of the dove of Mary.
Qu’un beau Pigeon a tire d'aile When a pretty dove under her wing
Vienne abombrer une Pucelle, Happens to conceal a Virgin,
Rien n'est suprenant en cela; There is nothing surprising in that.
L’on en vit autant en Lydie. The same thing is known in Lydia,
Et le beau Cygne de Leda For the beautiful swan of Leda
Vaut bien le Pigeon de Marie. Is just as good as Mary's pigeon.
BIn the book of Samuel, chap. vii, it is related that the Israelites
being discontented with the sons of Samuel who judged them, demanded a
King, the same as other nations, with whom they wished to conform.
AJesus Christ was of the sect of the Pharisees, or the poor, who were
opposed to the Sadducees, who formed the sect of the rich.
74 DE TRIBUS IMPOSTORIBUS.
cured, nor how many dead he raised, having no money
and no army, he could not fail to perish, and with that
outlook it appears that he had less chance of success
than AZoses, Mahomet, and all those who were ambi-
tious to elevate themselves above others. If he was
more unfortunate, he was no less adroit, and several
places in his history give evidence that the greatest
fault in his policy was not to have sufficiently provided
for his own safety. So it may be seen that he did not
manage his affairs any better than those two other
legislators, of whose memory exists but the remains of
the belief that they established among the different
nations.
CHAPTER VIII.
OF THE Poricy oF Jesus CHRIST.
I.
Is there anything, for example, more dextrous
than the manner in which he treated the subject of the
woman taken in adultery? (St. John, c. viii.) The
Jews having asked if they should stone this unfortunate,
instead of replying definitely, yes or no, by which he
would fallin the trap set by his enemies : the negative
being directly against the law, and the affirmative
proving him severe and cruel which would have
alienated the saints. Instead of replying as any ordi-
nary person but him would have done, he said, ‘ who-
ever is without sin, let him cast the first stone? a
skillful response, which shows us his presence of mind.
I.
Another time being asked if it was lawful to® pay
tribute to Cesar, and seeing the image of the Prince on
the coin that they showed him, he evades the difficulty
by replying that they should **zezder unto Cesar what
belongs to Cesar, and unto God what belongs to God."
The difficulty consisted in that he would be guilty of
lèse majesté if he had said it was not permitted, and by
saying that it was, he would reverse the law of Moses
which he always protested he would not do, because
he felt that he was either too weak, or that he would
CBy this Norman reply he eluded the question. A Norman never
says yes, or no. Blason populaire de la Normandie.
76 LES TROIS IMPOSTEURS.
be worsted in the endeavor. So he made himself more
popular, by acting with impunity after the manner of
Princes, who allowed the privileges of their subjects to
be confirmed while their power was not well estab-
lished, but who scorned their promises when they were
well enthroned.
III.
He again skillfully avoided a trap that the Pharisees
had set for him. They asked him—having in their
minds thoughts which would only tend to convict him
of lying—óy what authority he pretended to instruct
and catechise the people. Whether he replied that it was
by human authority because he was not of the sacred
body of Levites, or whether he boasted of preaching
by the express command of God, his doctrine was con-
trary to the Mosaic law. To relieve this embarrass-
ment, he availed himself of the questioners themselves
by asking them in the name of whom they thought
John baptized? The Pharisees, who for policy
opposed the baptism by Yohv, would be condemned
themselves in avowing that il was of God. If they
had of admitted it they would have been exposed to
the rage of the populace, who believed the contrary.
To get out of this dilemma, they replied that they knew
nothing of it, to which Jesus answered that he was
neither obliged to tell them why, nor in the name of
whom he preached.
LY
Such were the skillful and witty evasions of the
destroyer of the ancient law and the founder of the
new. Such were the origins of the new religion which
was built on the ruins of the old, or to speak disinter-
estedly, there was nothing more divine in this than in
the other sects which preceded it. Its founder, who
THE THREE IMPOSTORS. 77
was not quite ignorant, seeing the extreme corruption
of the Jewish republic, judged it as nearing its end, and
believed that another should be revived from its ashes.
The fear of being prevented by one more ambitious
than himself, made him haste to establish it by methods
quite opposed to those of Moses. The latter com-
menced by making himself formidable to other nations.
Jesus, on the contrary, attracted them to him by the
hope of the advantages of another life, which he said
could be obtained by believing in him, while Moses
only promised temporal benefits as a recompense for
the observation of As law. Jesus Christ held out a
hope which never was realized. "The laws of one only
regarded the exterior, while those of the other aimed
at the inner man, influencing even the thoughts, and
entirely the reverse of the law of Moses. Whence it
follows that Jesus believed with Ayzs/ofle that it is
with Religion and States, as with individuals who are
begotten and die, and as nothing is made except subject
to dissolution, there is no law which can follow which
is entirely opposed to it. Now as it is difficult to
decide to change from one law to another, and as the
great majority is difficult to move in matters of Religion,
Jesus, in imitation of the other innovators had recourse
to miracles, which have always been the peril of the
ignorant, and the sanctuary of the ambitious.
bur
Christianity was founded by this method, and Jesus
profiting by the faults of the Mosaic policy, never suc-
ceeded so happily any where, as in the measures which
he took to render his law eternal. The Hebrew prophets
thought to do honor to Moses by predicting a successor
who resembled him. That is to say, a /esszaA, grand
78 DIE DREI ERZBETRUEGER.
in virtue, powerfulin wealth, and terrible to his enemies ;
and while their prophecies have produced the contrary
eflect, many ambitious ones have taken occasion to
proclaim themselves the promised Messiah, which has
caused revolts that have endured until the entire de-
struction of their republic.
Jesus Christ, more adroit than the Mosaic prophets,
to defeat the purpose of those who rose up against him
predicted (Matthew xxiv. 4-5-24-25-26. II. Thessa-
lonians ii. 3-10. John ii. 11-18) that such a man would
be a great enemy of God, the delight of the Devil, the
sink of all iniquity and the desolation of the world.
After these fine declarations there was, to my mind,
no person who would dare to call himself Azz- CArzst,
and I do not think he could have found a better way to
perpetuate his law. There was nothing more fabulous
than the rumors that were spread concerning this pre-
tended Anti-Christ. St. Paul said (11. Thessalonians
xi. 7) of his existence, that *«he was already born,"
consequently was present on the eve of the coming of
Jesus Christ while more than twelve hundred years
have expired since the prediction of this prophet was
uttered, and he has not yet appeared.
I admit that these words have been credited to
Cherintus and Æbion, two great enemies of Jesus
Christ, because they denied his pretended divinity, but
it also may be said that if this interpretation conforms
to the view of the apostle, which is not credible ; these
words for all time designate an infinity of Anfi-Christ,
there being no reputable scholar who would offend
by saying that the Ahistory of Fesus Christ is a fable,
A Vide Boniface VIII. (1294) and Leo X. (1513) Boniface said that
men had the same souls as beasts, and that these human and bestial souls
lived no longer than each other. The Gospel also says that all other laws
DE LOS TRES IMPOSTORES. 79
and that his law is but a tissue of idle fancies that
ignorance has putin vogue and that interest preserves.
Vi
Nevertheless it is pretended that a Religion which
rests on such frail foundations is quite divine and super-
natural, as if we did not know that there were never
persons more convenient to give currency to the most
absurd opinions than women and zdzots.
It is not strange, then, that Jesus did not choose
Philosophers and Scholars for his Apostles. He knew
that his law and good sense were diametrically
opposed.^ That is the reason why he declaims in so
many places against the wise, and excludes them from
his kingdom, where were to be admitted the poor zm
spirit, the szlly and the crazy. Again, rational indi-
viduals did not think it unfortunate to have nothing in
common with vzszonaries.
teach several virtues and several lies; for example, a Z'znity which is
false, the child-birth of a Virgin which is impossible, and the zzcarzation
and ¢ransubstantiation which are ridiculous. Ido not believe, continued
he, other than that the Virgin was a she-ass, and her son the issue of a
she-ass.
Leo X. went one day to a room where his treasures were kept, and
exclaimed ‘‘ we must admit that this fable of Jesus Christ has been quite
profitable to us.
AThe belief in the Christian doctrine is strange and wild to reason
and human judgment. It is contrary to all Philosophy and discourse of
Truth, as may be seen in all the articles of faith which can neither be com-
prehended nor understood by human intellect, for they appear impossible
and quite strange. Mankind, in order to believe and receive them, must
control and subject his reason, submitting his understanding to the obedi-
ence of the faith. S¢. Paul says that if man considers and hears philosophy
and measures things by the compass of Truth, he will forsake all, and
ridicule it as folly.
That is the avowal made by Charron in a book entitled ** The Three
Truths,’’ page 180. Edition of Bordeaux, 1593.1
+This inserted note is written on the back of a portion of a letter
addressed to ‘ Prince graaft by de Sepigel straat. A Amsterdam,”
postmarked ** Ce 4e. Aout. 1746.”
CHAPTER IX.
Or THE MoRaALS oF JESUS CHRIST.
I.
As for his Morals, we see nothing more divine
therein than in the writings of the ancients, or rather
we find only what are only extracts or imitations. S7.
Augustin (ch. 9 and v. 20 of the Confessions, Book 7, )
even admits that he has found in some of their works
nearly all of the beginning of the Gospel according to
St. Fohn. As far as may be seen, that Apostle is
believed, in many places, to have stolen from other
authors, and that it was not difficult to rob the Prophets
of their enigmas and visions to make his Apocalypse.
Whence comes the conformity which we find between
the doctrine of the Old Testament and that of Plato?
to say nothing of what the Rabbins have done, and
those who have fabricated the Holy Writings from a
mass of fragments stolen from this Grand Philosopher.
Certainly the birth of the world has a thousand
times more probability in his 77#aeus than in Genesis,
and it cannot be said that that comes from what Plato
had read in the books of the Jews during his travels in
Egypt, for according to St. Augustin himself, (Con-
fessions, Book 7, ch. 9, v. 20,) Ptolemy had not yet
translated them. The description of the country of
which Socrates speaks to SZmzas in the Phaedon (?)
has infinitely more grace than the Zerrestrial Paradise
(of Eden) and the Androgynus* is without comparison,
*Hermaphrodites.
DEI TRE IMPOSTORI. 81
better conceived than what Gezeszs says of the extrac-
tion of Eve from one of the sides of Adam. Is there
anything that more resembles the two accidents of
Sodom and Gomorrah than that which happened to
Phaeton? Is there anything more alike than the fall
of Lucifer and that of Vulcan, or that of the giants
cast down by the lightnings of Jupiter? Anything
more similar than Samson and Hercules, Elijah and
Phaeton, Foseph and Hippolitus, Nebuchadnezzar
and Lycaon, Tantalus and the tormented rich man
(Luke xvi, 24), the manna of the Israelites and the
ambrosia of the Gods? St. Augustin—quoted from
God, Book 6, chap. 14,—S?¢. Cyrile and Theophylactus
compare Yonah with Hercules, surnamed Trinsitium
(?Trinoctius), because he had dwelt three days and
three nights in the belly of a whale. The river of
Daniel, spoken of in the Prophets, ch. vii, is a visible
imitation of Periphlegeton, which is mentioned by
Plato in the Dialogue on the ‘‘Immortality of the
Soul.”’
Original sin has been taken from Pandora’s box,
the sacrifice of /saac and Fephthah from the story of
Iphigenia, although in the latter a A/zd was substi-
tuted. What is said of Lot and his wife is quite like
the tale which is told of Baucis and Philemon. In
short, it is unquestionable that the authors of the Scrip-
tures have transcribed word for word the works of
Hesiod and Homer.
T.
But it seems that I have made quite a digression
which, however, may not be unprofitable. Let us
return then to Jesus, or rather, to his Morals.
Celsus proves, by the account of Origen (Book
VI, against Celsus), that he had taken from Plato his
82 DE TRIBUS IMPOSTORIBUS.
finest sentiments, such as that which says (Zuke,
c. xviii, v. 25), that a camel might sooner pass
through the eye of a needle than a rich man should
enter the Kingdom of God. It was the sect of Pharisees
of which he was, and who believed in him, which gave
birth to this. What is said of the /mmortality of
the Soul, of the Resurrection, of Hell, and the greater
part of his AZora/s, I see nothing more admirable than
in the works of Æpictetus, Epicurus and many others.
In fact, the latter was cited by .S/. Jerome (Book
VIII, against Yovian, ch. viii), as a man whose virtue
puts to the blush better Christians, observing that all
his works were filled with but herbs, fruits and absti-
nence, and whose delights were so temperate that his
finest repasts were but a little cheese, bread and
water. With a life so frugal, this Philosopher, pagan
as he was, said that it was better to be unlucky and
rational, than rich and opulent without having good
Sense, adding, that tt is rare that fortune and wisdom
are found in the same individual, and that one could
have no knowledge of happiness nor live with pleas-
ure unless felicity was accompanied by prudence,
justice and honesty, which are qualifications of a
true and lasting delight.
As for Æpictetus I do not believe that any man, not
excepting Yesws himself, was more austere, more firm,
more equitable, or more moral. I say nothing but
what is easy to prove, and not to pass my prescribed
limit I will not mention all the exemplary acts of his
life, but give one single example of constancy which
puts to shame the weakness and cowardice of Yesws in
the sight of death. Being a slave to a freeman named
Epaphroditus, captain of the guards of Nero, it took
the fancy of this brute to twist the leg of Epictetus.
Epictetus perceiving that it gave him pleasure said to
him, smiling, that he was well convinced that the game
LES TROIS IMPOSTEURS. 83
would not end until he had broken his leg ; in fact, this
crisis happened. ‘‘ Well," said Epictetus with an even
smiling face, ‘‘did I not say that you would break my
leg?" Was there ever courage equal to that? and could
it have been said of Yesus Christ had he been the
victim? He who wept and trembled with fear at the
least alarm, and who evinced at his death a lack of
spirit that never was witnessed in the majority of his
martyrs.
I doubt not but what it might be said of this action
of Epictetus what the ignorant remark of the virtues
of the Philosophers, that vanity was their principle, and
that they were not what they seemed. But I say also
that those who use such language are people who, in
the pulpit, say all that comes into their heads—either
good or evil—and they want the privilege of telling it
all. I know also that when these babblers, sellers of
air, wind and smoke, have vented all their strength
against the champions of common sense they think they
have well earned the revenues of their livings: that
they have not merited a call to instruct the people unless
they have declared against those who know what com-
mon sense and true virtue is.
So it is true that nothing in the world approaches
so little to the manners of true scholars as the actions
of the ignorant who decry them and who appear to
have studied only to procure preferment which gives
them bread ; and which preferment they worship and
magnify when this height is attained, as if they had
reached a condition of perfection, which, to those who
succeed, is a condition of self-love, ease, pride and
pleasure, following nothing less than the maxims of
the religion which they profess.
But let us leave these people who know not what
virtue is, and examine the divinity of their Master.
CHAPIBR X.
Or THE DIvINiTy oF JESUS CHRIST.
1.
After having examined his policy and morals we
have seen nothing more Divine than in the writings
and conduct of the ancients. Let us see if the reputa-
tion which followed him after his death is an evidence
that he was God. Mankind is so accustomed to false
reasoning that I am astonished that any one can reach
a sane conclusion from their conduct. Experience
shows that there is nothing they followed that is in any
wise true, and that nothing has been done or said by
them which gives any evidence of stability. In the
meanwhile it is certain that common opinions are con-
tinually surrounded with chimeras notwithstanding the
efforts of the learned, which have always opposed them.
Whatever care has been taken to extirpate follies the
people have never abandoned them only after having
been surfeited with them. Moses was proud to boast
himself the Lieutenant of the Lord of Lords, and to
prove his mission by extraordinary signs. If ever so
little he absented himself (which he did from time to
time to confer, as he said, with his God, as Vuma and
other lawgivers also did) he only found on his return
traces of the worship of the Gods which the Israelites
had seen in Egypt. He successfully held them forty
years in the wilderness that they might lose the idea of
those they had abandoned, and not being yet satisfied
they obeyed him who led them, and bore firmly what-
ever hardship they were caused to suffer in this regard.
THE THREE IMPOSTORS. 85
Only the hatred which they had conceived for
other nations, by an arrogance of which most idiots are
susceptible, made them insensibly forget the Gods of
Egypt and attach themselves to those of Moses whom
they adored, and sometimes with all the circumstance
marked in the laws. But when they quitted these con-
ditions little by little to follow those of 7esus Christ, I
cannot see what inconstancy caused them to run after
the novelty and change.
II.
The most ignorant Hebrews having given the most
vogue to the law of Moses were the first to run after
Jesus, and as their number was infinite and they encour-
aged each other, it is not marvellous that these errors
spread so easily. It is not that novelty does not always
beget suffering, but it is the glory that is expected that
one hopes will smooth the difficulties. "Thus the Dis-
ciples of Jesus, miserable as they were, reduced at
times to nourish themselves with grains of corn which
they gathered from the fields ( Luke vi., 1), and seeing
themselves shamefully excluded from places where
they thought to enter to ease their fatigue ( Luke ix.,
52-53) they began to be discouraged with living ; their
Master being without the pale of the law and unable to
give them the benefits, glory and grandeur which he
had promised them.
After his death his disciples, in despair at seeing their
hopes frustrated, and pursued by the Jews who wished
to treat them as they had treated their Master, made a
virtue of necessity and scattered over the country, where
by the report of some women (John xx, 18) they told
of his resurrection, his divine affiliation and the rest of
86 DIE DREI ERZBETRUEGER.
the fables with which the Gospels are filled.* The
trouble which they had to make progress among the
Jews made them resolve to pass among the Gentzles,
and try to serve themselves better among them ; but as
it was necessary to have more learning for that than
they possessed—the Gentiles being philosophers and
too much in love with truth to resort to trifles—they
gained over a young man (Saul or St. Paul) of an active
and eager mind and a little better informed than the
simple fishermen or than the greater babblers who asso-
ciated with them. A stroke from Heaven made him
blind, as is said ( without this the trick would have been
useless) and this incident for a time attracted some
weak souls.^ By the fear of Hell, taken from some of
the fables of the ancient poets, and by the hope of a
glorious Ztesurrection and a Paradise which is hardly
more supportable than that of A/ahomet,; all these
procured for their J/aster the honor of passing for a
God, which he himself was unable to obtain while
living. In which this kind of /esus was no better than
Homer: six cities which had driven the latter out with
contempt and scorn during his life, disputed with each
other after his death to determine with whom remained
the honor of having been his birth-place.
By this it may be seen that Christianity depends,
like all other things, on the caprice of men, in whose
opinion all passes either for good or bad, according as
the notion strikes them. Further, if Jesus was God,
nothing could resist him, for St. Paul ( Romans, v. 19),
is witness that nothing could overcome his will. Yet
* Which determined the Emperor Fulian to abandon the sect of
Nazarenes whose faith he regarded as a vulgar fiction of the human mind,
which he found based solely on a simple tale of Perdiccas.
a Also his belief in visions and the legend of his translation to Heaven.
DE LOS TRES IMPOSTORES. 87
this passage is directly opposed to another in Genesis
(iv, 7), where it is said that as the deszres and appe-
tites of man belong to him, who is the Master, so it is
agreed to accord free-will to the master of animals,
that is to say, man, for whom it is said God has created
the universe.
But without wandering in a maze of errors and
positive contradictions, of which we have discoursed
sufficiently, let us say something of Mahomet, who
founded a law upon maxims totally opposed to those of
Fesus Christ.
CHAPTER XI.
Or MAHOMET.
I.
Hardly had the Disciples of Jesus abandoned the
Mosaic law to introduce the Christian, than mankind,
with their usual caprice and ordinary inconstancy,
suddenly changed their sentiments, and all the East
was seen embracing the sentiments of the celebrated
Arzus, who had the boldness to oppose the fable of
Jesus, and prove that he was no more a God than any
other man. Thus Christianity was almost abolished,
and there appeared a new law-giver, who, in less than
ten years time, formed a considerable sect. "This was
Mahomet.
To be well acquainted with him, it must be known
that the part of Arabia where he was born, was
commonly called **the Happy,’’ by reason of its fertility,
and being inhabited by people who formed several
Republics, each Republic being a family called a
a À friend of the celebrated Gol/us having asked what the Mahometans
said of their prophet, this wise professor sent him the following extract
which contains an abridgement of the life of that Impostor taken from a
manuscript in the Turkish language: ‘The Lord Mahomet Mustapha, of
glorious memory, the greatest of the Prophets, was born in the fortieth
year of the Empire of Anal Schirwan, the Just. His holy nativity hap-
pened the twelfth day in the second third of the month Rabia. Now, after
the fortieth year of his age had passed, he was divinely inspired, received
the crown of prophecy and the robe of Legation, which were brought him
from God by the faithful messenger Gabriel, with instructions to call man-
kind to /s/amism. After this inspiration from God was received, he dwelt
at Mecca for thirteen years. He left there aged fifty-three years the eighth
day of the month Æabra, which was a Friday, and took refuge at Medina.
DEI TRE IMPOSTORI. 89
‘*tribe,’? and having for its head the chief of the prin-
cipal family, among those which composed the ‘‘tribe.”’
That in which /7ZaAomet was born was named the
Tribe of Æorersk, of which the principal family was
that of Hashem, of which the chief was then a certain
Abdul Motallab,* grandfather of Mahomet, whose
father, eldest son of Addul Motallab, was named
Abdallah .*
'This tribe inhabited the shores of the Red sea, and
Abdul Motallab was High Priest of the Temple of
Mecca where were worshipped the Idols of the country.
As Chief of his Tribe he was Prince of this country in
which quality he had sustained the war against the
King of Persia and the Emperor of Ethiopia, which
shows that A/Zahomet was not of the riff-raff of the
people.
His father dying before his grandfather, his tender
years caused him to lose the rights he had to the Sov-
ereignty, which one of his uncles usurped. It was for
this reason, not being able to succeed to the title of
Prince, that he was reduced to the humble condition
of shop-boy in the employ of a wealthy widow for
whom he became afterwards factor. Having found
him to her liking she married him and made him one
of the richest citizens of Mecca. He was then about
Now, it was there, after his retreat the twentieth day of the eleventh
month, and the sixty-third year of his blessed life, he succeeded to the
enjoyment of the divine presence. Some say that he was born while
Abelaka,* his father, was yet living, others say after his death. Lady
Amina, a daughter of the Wahabees, gave him for nurse lady Halima, of
the tribe of Beni-Saad. Abdo Imutalib,* his grandfather, gave him the
blessed name of Mahomet. He had four sons and four daughters. The
sons were Kasim, [brahim, Thajib and Thahir, and the daughters, Fatima,
Omokeltum, Rakia and Zeineb. The companions of this august envoy of
God were Abulekir, Omar, Osman and Ali, all of sacred memory.
*These names, Abdul-Motallab and Abdallah, in Arabic, seem to be
rendered Abdo-Jmutalib and Abelaka in the Turkish language.—A. N.
go DE TRIBUS IMPOSTORIBUS.
30 years of age, and seeing at hand the means to enforce
his rights, his ambitions awakened, and he meditated in
what manner he could re-establish himself in the dignity
of his grandfather.
The correspondence that he had had with Chris-
tiansin Egypt and FYewsin Fudea, where he had traded
a long time for his wife while he was only her factor,
gave him an opportunity of knowing who Moses was
and also Jesus Christ. He also had remarked into how
many different sects their Religion was divided, and
which produced such diversity of opinions, and the zeal
of each sect. By this he profited, and he believed he
could better succeed in the interest of establishing a
new Religion. The conditions of the time when he
formed this design were very favorable to him, for
nearly all of the Arabs, disgusted with the worship of
their Idols, were fallen into a species of .JA/Aezsm.
Thus Mahomet began by leading a retired life, being
exemplary, seeking solitude, and passing the greater
part of the day in prayers and meditations. He caused
himself to be admired for his modest demeanor, and
commenced to speak of revelations and visions. By
such action is gained the credence of the populace, and
by such methods Moses and Jesus commenced. He
called himself a prophet and an envoy of God, and
having as much skill as his predecessors in working
miracles, he soon gained attention, then admiration,
and soon after the confidence of the people. A Jew
and a Christian monk who were in his conspiracy aided
him in his dextrous moves, and he soon became power-
ful enough to resist a vigorous man named Corais,a
learned Arab, who endeavored to expose his imposture.
During this time his uncle, the governor of Mecca,
died, and not being yet strong enough to assume the
LES TROIS IMPOSTEURS. 91
authority of sovereign, he was obliged to yield to one
of his kinsmen who, penetrating his designs, obliged
him to flee from AZecca and take refuge at Medina,
where one party in the city who were Arian Christians
joined him.
Then he ceased to support his authority by argu-
ment, and persuaded his disciples to plant the Mussul-
man faith at the point of the sword. Having strength-
ened his party by alliances, marrying his daughters to
four of the principal citizens of Medina, he was in
condition to place armies in the field who subjugated
the various tribes, one after the other, and with whom
he finally seized A/ecca. He did not die until after he
had accomplished his purpose by his hypocrisy and
imposture, which elevated him to the dignity of sover-
eign, which he transmitted to his successors, and his
faith so well established that there has been no evidence
of its failure for six hundred years, and yet it may be
upon the eve of its destruction.
IIT.
Thus Mahomet was more fortunate than Jesus
Christ. After having labored during twenty-three years
in the establishment of his Law and Religion, he saw its
progress before his death, and having an assurance
which Jesus Christ had not, that it would exist a long
time after his death, since he prudently accommodated
the genius and passions of his followers.
Such was the last of these three impostors. Moses
threw himself into an abyss by an excess of ambition to
cause himself to be believed immortal. Jesus Christ
was ignominiously hung up between two thieves, being
covered with shame as a recompense for his imposture,
and lastly, Mahomet died in reality in his own bed, and
92 THE THREE IMPOSTORS.
in the midst of grandeur, but with his bowels consumed
by poison given him by a young Jewess, to determine
if he really was a prophet.
This is all that can be said of these four* celebrated
impostors. They were just as we have painted them
after nature, and without giving any false shading to
their portraits, that it may be judged if they merited
any confidence, and if it is excusable to be led by these
guides, whom ambition and trickery have elevated, and
whom ignorance has destroyed.
*This includes MVuma Pompilius.—A. N.
SENSIBLE AND OBVIOUS TRUTHS.
I.
It is not sufficient to have discovered the disease if
we do not apply a remedy. It would be better to
leave the sick man in ignorance. Error can only be
cured by Truth, and since Moses, Fesus and Mahomet
were what we have represented them, we should not
seek in their writings for the veritable idea of the
Divinity. The apparitions and the divine conformation
of the former and the latter, and the divine filiation of
the second, are sufficient to convince us that all is but
imposture.
II.
God is either a natural being or one of infinite
extent who resembles what he contains, that is to say,
that he is material without being, nevertheless, neither
just nor merciful, nor jealous, nor a God in any way as
may be imagined, and as a consequence is neither a
punisher nor a remunerator. This idea of punishment
and recompense only exists in the minds of the ignorant
who only conceive that simple being called God, under
images which by no means represent him. Those who
use their understanding without confounding its opera-
tions with those of the imagination, and who are power-
ful enough to abandon the prejudice of a limited educa-
tion, are the only ones who have sound, clear and distinct
ideas. They consider him as the source of all beings
which are produced without distinction : one being no
more than another in His regard, and man no more
difficult to produce than a worm or a flower.
94 DIE DREI ERZBETRUEGER.
III.
That is why it is not to be believed that this natural
and infinite being which is commonly called God,
esteems man more than an ant, or a lion more than a
stone, or any other being more than a phantasy, or who
has any regard for beauty or ugliness, for good or bad,
for the perfect or imperfect. Or that he desires to be
praised, prayed, sought for or caressed, or that he
cares what men are, or say, whether susceptible of
love or hate, or in a word that he thinks more of man
than of any other creatures of whatever nature they
be. Allthese distinctions are only the invention of a
narrow mind, that is to say, ignorance has created them
and interest keeps them alive.
Ly
Thus there is no good sensible man who can be
convinced of hell, a soul, spirits or devils, in the manner
of which they are commonly spoken. All these great
senseless words have only been contrived to delude or
intimidate the people. Let those then who wish to
know the truth read what follows, with a liberal spirit
and an intention to only give their judgment with de-
liberation.
Y
The myriads of stars that we see above us are
allowed to be so many solid bodies which move, and
among which there is not one designed as the Court
Divine where God is like a King in the midst of his
courtiers ; which is the abode of the blest, and where
all good souls fly after leaving this body and world.
But without burdening ourselves with such a rude and
ill-conceived opinion, and that it may not be entertained
by any man of good sense, it is certain that what is
DE LOS TRES IMPOSTORES. 95
called Heaven is nothing but the continuation of our
atmosphere, more subtile and more refined, where the
stars move without being sustained by any solid mass
more than the Earth on which we live, and which like
the stars is suspended in the midst of space.
VI.
As may be imagined, a Heaven intended for the
eternal abode of the happy and of God, was the same
among the Pagans. Gods and goddesses were also
represented in the same way, also a Hell or a subter-
ranean place where it was pretended that the wicked
souls descended to be tormented. But this word ‘hell’?
taken in its proper and natural signification means
nothing but a ‘‘lower place," which poets have in-
vented to oppose the dwelling of the celestial inhabit-
ants, who are said to be very sublime and exalted.
That is what the Latin word /nfernus or inferi sig-
nifies, and also the Greek word 4%, that is to say, an
obscure place like the sepulchre, or any other low and
hidden place. All the rest of what has been said is
only pure fiction and the invention of poets whose sym-
bolical discourses are taken literally by feeble, timid
and melancholy minds, as well as by those who are
interested in sustaining this opinion.
* Hades.
OF THE SOUL.
I.
The Soul is something more delicate and more
difficult to treat of than either Heaven or Hell. That
is why it is proper to satisfy Your Majesty's curiosity,
to speak of it a little more at length. Before saying
what I desire on this subject, I will recall in a few words
what the most celebrated Philosophers have thought
of it.
If,
Some have said that the Soul is a spirit or an im-
material substance ; others, a kind of divinity ; some, a
very subtile air, and others a harmony of all parts of
the body. Again, others have remarked that it is the
most subtile and fine part of the blood, which is sep-
arated from it in the brain and is distributed by the
nerves: so that the source of the Soul is the heart where
it is produced, and the place where it performs its
noblest function is the Brain, because there it is well
purified from the grosser parts of the blood. These are
the principal opinions which have been held concerning
the Soul, but to render them more perceptible let us
divide them into materia! and spiritual, and name
the supporters of each theory that we may not err.
III.
Pythagoras and Plato have said that the soul is
spiritual, that is to say, a being capable of existence
without the aid of the body, and can move itself : that
DEI TRE IMPOSTORI. 97
all the particular souls of animals are portions of the
universal soul of the world: that these portions are
spiritual and ¢mmortal, and of the same nature, as we
may conceive that one hundred little fires are of the
same nature as the great fire at which they have been
kindled.
IV.
These philosophers believed the animated universe
a substance, spiritual, immortal and invisible, pursuing
always that which attracts, which is the source of all
movements, and of all Souls which are small particles
of it. Now, as Souls are very pure, and infinitely
superior to the body, they do not unite immediately,
but by means of a subtile body, such as flame, or that
subtile and extensive air which the vulgar take for
heaven. Afterwards they take a body less subtile, then
another a little more impure, and always thus by
degrees, until they can unite with the sensible bodies of
animals, whence (sc) they descend like into dungeons
or sepulchres. The death of the body, they say, is the
life of the soul wherein it was buried, and where it
exercises but weakly its most beautiful functions.
'Thus at the death of the body the soul comes out
of its prison untrammelled by matter, and reunites with
the soul of the universe, from whence it came. ‘Thus,
following this thought, all the Souls of animals are of
the same nature, and the diversity of their functions
comes only from the difference in the bodies that they
enter.
Aristotle admits further, a universal understanding
common to all beings, and which acts in regard to
particular intelligences as light does in regard to the
eyes; and as light makes objects visible, the universal
understanding makes objects intelligible. This philos-
98 DE TRIBUS IMPOSTORIBUS.
opher defines the Soul as that which makes us live, feel,
think and move, but he does not say what the Being is
that is the source and principle of these noble functions,
and consequently we must not look to him to dispel the
doubt which exists concerning the Nature of the Soul.
V.
Dicearchus, Asclestade (? Esculapius), and in
some ways Galen, have also believed the soul to be
incorporeal, but in another manner, for they have said
that it is nothing more than the harmony of all parts of
the body, that is to say, that which results in an exact
blending and disposition of the humors and spirits.
Thus, they say, health is not a part of him who is well,
however it be his condition, so that, however, the soul
be in the animal, it is not one of its parts, but a mutual
accord of all of which it is composed. On which it is
remarked that these authors beleve the soul to be
incorporeal, on a principle quite opposed to their intent,
by saying that it is vof a body, but only something
inseparably attached /o a body, that is to say, in good
reasoning, that it is quite corporeal, since corporeality
is not only that which zs a body, but a// which is form
or accident that cannot be separated from matter.
These are the philosophers who have believed the
soul incorporeal or immaterial, who, as you see, are not
in accord with themselves, and consequently do not
merit any belief. Let us now consider those who have
avowed it to be a body.
YT,
Diogenes believed that it was formed of air, from
which he has inferred the necessity of breathing, and
defines it as an air which passes from the mouth
LES TROIS IMPOSTEURS. 99
through the lungs to the heart, where it is warmed,
and from whence it is distributed through the entire
body.
Leucippus and Democritus have claimed that it
was Fire, as that element is composed of atoms which
easily penetrate all parts of the body, and makes it
move. fzppocrates has said that it is a composition
of water and fire. Empedocles says that it includes
the four elements. Epicurus believed like Democritus,
that the soul is composed of fire, but he adds that in
that composition there enters some air, a vapor, and
another nameless substance of which is formed a very
subtile spirit, which spreads through the body and
and which is called the soul.
VII.
Not to shuffle, as all these philosophers have done,
and to have as perfect an idea as is possible of the souls
of animals, let us admit that in all, without excepting
man, it is of the same nature, and has no different
functions, but by reason of the diversity of organs and
humors ; hence we must believe what follows.
It is certain that there is in the universe a very
subtile spirit, or a very delicate matter, and always in
motion, the source of which is in the Sy, and the
remainder is spread in all the other bodies, more or
less, according to Nature or their consistency. That
is the Soul of the Universe which governs and vivifies
it, and of which some portion is distributed among all
the parts that compose it. This Soul, and the most
pure Fire which is in the universe does not burn of
itself, but by the different movements that it gives to
the particles of other bodies where it enters, it burns
and reflects its heat. The visible fire has more of this
100 THE THREE IMPOSTORS.
spirit than air, the latter more than water, and the
earth much less than the latter. Among the mixed
bodies, plants have more than minerals, and animals
more than either. To conclude, this fire being
enclosed in the body, it is rendered capable of thought,
and that is what is called the soul, or what is called
animal spirits, which are spread in all parts of the
body. Now, it is certain that this soul being of the
same nature in all animals, disperses at the death of
man in the same manner as in other animals, from
whence it follows that what Poets and Theologians
sing or preach of the other world, is a chimera which
they have invented, and which they narrate for reasons
that are easy to guess.
OF SPIRITS WHICH ARE CALLED DEMONS.
ji
We have fully commented on how the belief in
Spirits was introduced among men, and how these
Spirits were but phantoms which existed in their
imagination. The ancient Philosophers were not
sufficiently clear to explain to the people what these
phantoms were, and did not allow themselves to say
that they could zazse them. Some seeing that these
phantoms dissolved and had no consistency, called
them zmmaterial, incorporeal, forms without matter,
or colors and figures, without being, nevertheless,
bodies either colored or defined, adding that they
could cover themselves with air like a mantle when
they wished to render themselves visible to the eyes of
men. Others said that they were animated bodies, but
were composed of air, or some other more subtile
matter which condensed at their will when they wished
to appear.
IL
These two kinds of Philosophers being opposed in
the opinion which they had of phantoms, agreed in the
name which they gave them, for all called them Demons,
in which they were but little more enlightened than
those who believed they saw in their sleep the souls of
the dead, and that it is their soul which they see when
they look in a mirror, and who also believed that they
saw (reflected) in the water the souls of the stars.
After this foolish fancy they fell into an error which is
102 DIE DREI ERZBETRUEGER.
hardly less supportable, that is, the current idea that
these phantoms had infinite power. An absurd but
ordinary belief with the ignorant who imagined that
whatever they did not understand was an infinite power.
LL.
This ridiculous opinion was no sooner published
than the Sovereigns began to use it to support their
power. They established a belief concerning spirits
which they called Æe/igion, so that the fear which the
people possessed for invisible powers would hold them
to their obedience. To have it carry more influence
they distinguished the demons as good and bad. The
latter to encourage men to obey their laws, and the
former to restrain and prevent them from infringing
them. Now to learn what these demons were it is
only necessary to read the Greek poets and their his-
tories, and above all what /7eszod says in his Zheogony
where he fully treats of the origin and propagation of
the Gods.
IV.
The Greeks were the first who invented them, and
by them they were propagated through the medium of
their colonies, and their conquests in Asia, Egypt and
Italy. The Jews who were dispersed in Alexandria and
elsewhere got their acquaintance with them from the
Greeks. They used them as effectively as the other
peoples but with this difference, they did not call them
Demons like the Greeks, but good and bad spirits ;
reserving for the good Demons the name of Sprit of
God, and calling those Prophets who were said to
possess this good spirit called the Divine, which they
held as responsible for great blessings, and cacodaemons
or £vil spirits on the contrary those which were pro-
vocative of great Evil.
DE LOS TRES IMPOSTORES. 103
b
This distinction of good and evil made them name
as Demontacs those whom we call lunatics, visionaries,
madmen and epileptics, and those who spoke to them
in an unknown tongue. A man ill-shaped and of evil
look was to their notion possessed of an wxclean spirit,
and a mute of a dumb spirit. Now, these words spirit
and demon became so familiar to them that they spoke
of them on all occasions, so that it is evident that the
Jews believed like the Greeks, that these phantoms were
not mere chimeras and visions, but real beings that
existed independent of imagination.
VI.
So it happens that the Bible is quite filled with these
words Spirits, Demons and Frends, but nowhere is it
said when they were first known, nor the time of their
creation, which is hardly pardonable in Moses, who is
earnest in depicting the Creation of Heaven, Earth and
Man. No more then is Jesus Christ who had such
close intimacy with them, who commanded them so
absolutely according to the Gospel, and who spoke so
often of angels and good and bad spirits, but without
saying whether they were corporeal or spiritual; which
makes it plain that he knewno more than the Greeks
had taught other nations, in which he is not less
culpable than for denying to all men the virtue of faith
and piety which he professed to be able to give them.
But to return to the Spirits. It is certain that the
words Demon, Satan and Devil, are not proper names
which designated any individual, and which never have
any credence but among the ignorant; as much among
the Greeks who invented them, as among the Jews
where they were tolerated. So the latter being over-
104 DEI TRE IMPOSTORI.
run by them gave them names—which signified ezemy,
accuser, inquisitor, —as well to invisible powers as to
their own adversaries, the Gentiles, whom they said
inhabited the Kingdom of Satan; there being none but
themselves, in their own opinion, who dwelt in that of
God.
VII.
As Jesus Christ was a Jew, and consequently
imbued with these silly opinions, we read everywhere
in the Gospels, and in the writings of his Disciples, of
the Devil, of Satan and Hellas if they were something
real and effective. While itis true, as we have shown,
that there is nothing more imaginary, and when what
we have said is not sufficient to prove it, but two words
will suffice to convince the most obstinate. All
Christians agree unanimously that God is the first prin-
ciple and the foundation of all things, that he has
created and preserves them, and without his support
they would fall into nothingness. Following this
principle it is certain that God must have created what
is called the Dev/7, and Satan, as well as the rest, and
if he has created both good and evil, why not all the
balance, and if by this principle all evil exists, it can
only be by the intervention of God.
Now can one conceive that God would maintain
a creature, not only who curses him unceasingly, and
who mortally hates him, but even who endeavors to
corrupt his friends, to have the pleasure of being cursed
by a multitude of mouths. How can we comprehend
that God should preserve the Devil to have him do his
worst to dethrone him if he could, and to alienate from
his service his elect and his favorites? What would be
the object of God in such conduct? Now what can
we say in speaking of the Devil and Hell. If God does
DE TRIBUS IMP OSTORIBUS. 105
all, and nothing can be done without him how does it
happen that the Devil hates him, curses him, and takes
away his friends? Now he is either agreeable, or he is
not. If he zs agreeable, it is certain that the Devil in
cursing him only does what he should, since he can only
do what God wills. Consequently, it is not the Devil,
but God in person who curses himself; a situation to
my idea more absurd than ever.
If it is not in accord with his will then it is not true
that he is all powerful. Thus there are two principles,
one of Good, the other of Evil, one which causes one
thing and the other that does quite the contrary. To what
does this reasoning lead us? To avow without contra-
diction that there is no God such as is conceived, nor
Devil, nor Soul, nor Paradise, such as has been depicted,
and that the Theologians, that is to say, those who
relate fables for truth, are persons of bad faith who
maliciously abuse the credulity of the ignorant by telling
them what they please, as if the people were capable
of nothing but chimera or who should be fed with insipid
food in which is found only emptiness, nothingness and
folly, and not a grain of the salt of truth and wisdom.
Centuries have passed, one after the other, in which
mankind has been infatuated by these absurd imagina-
tions which have been combatted ; but during all the
period there have also been found sincere minds who
have written against the injustice of the Doctors in
Tiaras, Mitres and Gowns, who have kept mankind in
such deplorable blindness which seems to increase every
day.
FINIS.
106 LES TROIS IMPOSTEURS.
By permission of the Lord Zaroz de Hohendorf
I have compiled this epitome out of the manuscript
Library of his Most August Highness, Duke Eugene
of Sabaudio, in the year 1716.
SOD ATD PUL
e TE
APPENDICITIS.
A DISEASE COMMON TO NEARLY ALL WORKS OF THIS CHAR-
ACTER, AND WHICH CONDITION IS PAST ALL SURGERY.
Another sketch of Mahomet translated from the
* Edition en Suisse," 1793, and which may interest
worshippers of Arabian mysteries evolved from imagi-
native brains, tinctured with extracts from ** Zhory’s
Acta Latomorum,’’ and similar works, and embellished
with effects from ‘‘ Michael Strogoff.”’
XXII.
Or MAHOMET.
Hardly had the disciples of Christ abolished the
Mosaic law to introduce the Christian dispensation,
than mankind, carried away by force, and by their
ordinary inconstancy, followed a new law-giver, who
advanced himself by the same methods as Moses. He
assumed, like him, the title of prophet, and envoy of
God, like him he performed miracles and knew how to
profit by the passions of the people. First he was
accompanied by an ignorant rabble, to whom he
explained the new oracles of heaven. These unfortu-
nates, seduced by the promises and fables of this new
impostor, spread his renown and exalted him to a
height that eclipsed his predecessors.
108 THE THREE IMPOSTORS.
Mahomet was not a man who appeared capable of
founding an empire, as he excelled neither in politics"
nor philosophy ; in fact, could neither read nor write.
He had so little firmness that he would often have
abandoned his enterprise had he not been forced to
persist in his undertaking by the skill of one of his
followers. From that time he commenced to rise
and become celebrated. Corais, a powerful Arab,
jealous that a man of his birth should have the
audacity to deceive the people, declared himself his
enemy, and attempted to cross his enterprise, but the
people persuaded that Mahomet had continual confer-
ences with God and his angels caused him to prevail
over his enemy. The tribe of Corais were at a dis-
advantage and Mahomet seeing himself followed by a
crazy crowd who thought him a divine man, thought
he would have no need of a companion, but fearing
that the latter (Corais) might expose his impostures
he tried to prevent it, and to do it more certainly he
overwhelmed him with promises, and swore to him
that he wished only to become great by sharing the
power to which he had contributed. ‘We have
a ** Mahomet," says the Count de Boulainvilliers, ** was ignorant of
common knowledge, as I believe, but he assuredly knew much of what a
great traveler might acquire with much native wit, when heemployed it
usefully. He was not ignorant of his own language, the use of which, and
not by reading, taught him its nicety and beauty. He was not ignorant of
the art of knowing how to render odious what was truly culpable, and to
portray the truth with simple and lively colors in a manner which could not
be forgotten. In fact, all that he has said is true in comparison with the
essential dogmas of religion, but he has not said all that is true. It isin
that particular alone that our Religion differs from his." He adds further
on, ‘ that Mahomet was neither rude nor barbarous, that he conducted his
enterprise with all the art, delicacy, constancy, intrepidity, and all the
other great qualities which would have actuated Alexander or Cesar were
they in his place." Life of Mahomet, by Count de Boulainvilliers. Book
I., pp. 266-7-8. Amsterdam Edition, 1731.
‘DIE DREI ERZBETRUEGER. 109
reached," said he, ‘‘the moment of our elevation, we
are sure of the great multitude we have gained, and we
must now assure ourselves by the artifice you have so
happily conceived." At the same time he induced him
to hide himself in the cave of oracles. There was a
dried-up well from which he made the people be-
lieve that the voice of God declared himself for Ma-
homet, who was in the midst of his proselytes. De-
ceived by the caresses of this traitor, his associate went
into the well to counterfeit the oracle as usual; Ma-
homet then passing by at the head of an infatuated
multitude a voice was heard saying: ‘I who am your
God, declare that I have established Mahomet as the
prophet of all nations : from him you will learn my true
law which has been changed by the Jews and the Chris-
tians.’’ For a long time this man played this game, but
in the end he was paid by the greatest and blackest in-
gratitude. Mahomet hearing the voice which pro-
claimed him a divine being, turned towards the people
and commanded them in the name of the God who
recognized him as his prophet, to fill with stones the
ditch from whence had issued such authentic testimony
in his favor, in memory of the stone which Jacob raised
to mark the place where God appeared to him.* Thus
perished the unfortunate person who had contributed
to the elevation of Mahomet; it was on this heap of
stones that the last of the celebrated prophets estab-
lished his law. This foundation is so stable and founded
in such a way that after a thousand years of reign it has
no appearance of being overthrown.
*Genesis ch. xxviii., v. 18.
A LITERAL TRANSLATION
DE TRIBUS
IMPOSTORIBUS.
ANNO MDIIC.
ZWEITE
MIT EINEM NEUEN VORWORT VERSEHENE AUFLAGE
VON
EMIL WELLER.
HEILBRONN
VERLAG VON GEBR. HENNINGER.
1876
Many maintain that there is a God, and that he
should be worshipped, before they understand either
what a God is, or what it is to be, as far as being is
common to bodies and spirits, according to the distinc-
tion they make; and what it is to worship God,
although they regard the worship of God according to
the standard of the honor given to ruling men.
What God is, they describe according to the con-
fession of their own ignorance. For it is inevitable
that they declare how he differs from other things by
the denial of former conceptions. "They cannot com-
prehend that there is an infinite being; that is, one of
whose limits they are ignorant. There is a creator of
heaven and earth, they say, but who is zs creator they
do not say, because they do not know; because they
do not understand. Some say that he is the origin of
himself and maintain that he comes from nothing but
himself. We do not understand his origin they say,
therefore he has none ( why so? if we do not understand
God himself, is there, therefore, no God?) And this
is the first principle of their ignorance.
There is no progression into infinity ; why not?
because the human intellect must have some foundation?
because it is accustomed to this belief? because it
cannot imagine anything beyond its own limits? As if,
indeed, it followed, that if I do not comprehend
infinity, therefore there is no infinity.
And nevertheless as is known from experience,
some among the members of the sects of Christ, think
DE LOS TRES IMPOSTORES. 113
there is an infinite progression of divine properties or
persons, concerning the limitations of which, however,
there has hitherto been dispute, and so indeed they think
that there is a progression 22/0 infinity. For the son is
begotten from infinity, and the holy spirit is breathed
from infinity. This begetting and this procession goes
on to infinity. For if that begetting or that breathing
of the spirit had begun or should once have ceased, the
conception of eternity would be destroyed. But if you
should agree with them on this point also, that the
creation of man can not be prolonged to infinity, which
they infer, however, on account of their finite minds,
it will not yet be evident whether other beings have
not been begotten among the higher powers, in a
peculiar manner and in great number, as well as among
men on earth ; and who of this great number should
especially be accepted as God. For every religion
admits that there are Gods who are mediators, although
they are not all under equal limitations, whence that
principle, that there must be one being only, raised
above men by his own nature, is evidently demolished.
And so it will be possible to say that from a diversity
of Gods as creators, a diversity of religions, and a
variety of kinds of worship afterwards arose: which
the religious feeling of the heathen especially employed.
But as to the objection which is raised about the mur-
ders and the concubinage of the Pagan Gods, aside
from the fact that the Pagans have long since shown
that these things must be understood as mysteries, sim-
ilar things will be found in other religions.
The slaughter of many tribes was perpetrated by
Moses and Joshua at the command of God. Even
human sacrifice the God of Israel demanded of Abra-
ham, but it was not carried into effect in this remarkable
case.
114 DEI TRÉ IMPOSTORI.
But he could either not have given a command, or
Abraham could not have believed that it had been given
in earnest, which would have been in itself utterly at
variance with the nature of God. Mahomet promises
the whole world as the reward offered by his religion,
and Christians talk about the universal slaughter of
their enemies and the subjugation of the foes of the
church, which indeed has not been insignificant, from
the fact that the church had the entire control of public
affairs.
Was not polygamy also permitted by ( Mohammed )
Moses, and as some maintain, even in the New Testa-
ment, by Christ? Did not the Holy Spirit beget the
son of God by a peculiar union with a betrothed virgin?
As for other objections which are made to the
pagans about their ridiculous idols, and their misuse of
worship, they are not so weighty that similar ones
can not be made to the members of other sects; never-
theless it can easily be proved that these abuses have
proceeded from the subordinates rather than from the
leaders, from the disciples, rather than from the
masters of religions.
But to return to the former argument. This 2ezzg,
—since the intellect limits its extent, —is what some call
Nature and others God. On these points some agree,
others disagree. Some fancy that the worlds have
existed from eternity, and call the connection of things
God ; certain ones call God an individual being, which
can be neither seen or known, although among these
disputes are not infrequent.
Religion, as far as it concerns worship, some
attribute to the fear, some to the love, of invisible
powers. But if the invisible powers are false, idolatry
is just as the principles of each worshipper demand.
DE TRIBUS IMPOSTORIBUS. IIS
They will have it that love springs from kindness
and refer it to gratitude ; although nevertheless it chiefly
arises from the sympathy of humors. The kind
deeds of enemies inspire especially violent hatred al-
though no one of the hypocrites has dared to confess
it. But who would suppose that love arises from the
kindness of him who gave to man the characteristics of
a lion, a bear and other wild beasts that he might
assume a nature contrary to the will of the creator?
Who, well knowing the weakness of human nature,
placed before [our progenitors] a tree, by which he
was sure they would bring a fatal sentence upon them-
selves and their descendants (as some will have it)?
And yet the latter are bound to worship and to perform
deeds of gratitude, as if for a great favor, Forsooth !
So the /thacan may have it, e£c. Take deadly arms,
a sword for instance, and if you had the most certain
foreknowledge ( which some claim for God also in this
very case, inasmuch as there can be no chance with
God) of the very purpose that he, before whose eyes
you place it, will seize it and inflict on himself and all
his descendants the most dreadful death. (He who
has still one drop of the milk of human kindness will
shudder to do such a deed). Take, I say, a sword,
you who are a father, for instance, or you who are a
friend ; and if you are a father, if you are a real friend,
present it to your friend, or your children, with the
command that they should zo/ run upon it, you fore-
seeing beyond all doubt, nevertheless, that he w2/7 run
upon it, and inflict on his children and those hitherto
innocent, the most dreadful death. Consider, you who
are a father, would you do such a thing? What is it to
make a command a mockery, if thisis not? And never-
theless God must have given such a command. But
116 LES TROIS IMPOSTEURS.
they maintain that God should be worshipped for his
kindness, saying: If God zs, he must be worshipped ;
just as they make this inference, the Great Mogul zs,
therefore he must be worshipped. His own people do
indeed worship him, but why? assuredly that his un-
bridled pride and that of all great men may be gratified,
and for no other reason. For he is worshipped chiefly
on account of the fear of his visible power (hence at
his death the worship ceases ), and then too on account
of the hope of rewards. This same reason exists for
the reverence shown parents and other people in power;
and since invisible powers are considered more im-
portant and greater than visible ones, therefore, they
will have it that still more should they be worshipped.
And this God should be worshipped on account of his
love, they say. And what kind of love is it to expose
innocent posterity to infinite suffering on account of the
fall of one man, certainly foreseen and therefore fore-
ordained (foreordained as far at least as being per-
mitted). But, you say, they are to be redeemed. But
how? The father exposes his only son to extreme suf-
fering, that he may deliver the other man from tortures
no greater, because of the redemption offered by the
former.
The Barbarians had no such silly idea. But why
should God be loved, why worshipped? because he
created us? But to what end? that we should fall!
because assuredly he had foreknowledge that [our
progenitors] would fall, and set before them the
medium of the forbidden fruit, without which they
could not have fallen. Granted, however, that he
should be worshipped because on him all things depend
for their creation; some, nevertheless, add, for their
continued existence also, and their preservation. Why
THE THREE IMPOSTORS. 117
should God be worshipped? Does he himself delight
in worship? Certainly. Parents and benefactors are
honored among us. But why is this honor given?
Human nature has regard for mutual wants and, the
bestowal of honor is due to the idea that we can be
aided by a greater and more enduring power. No one
wishes to aid another unless his own wants are satisfied
in turn. That is called a person's recognition of kind-
ness and gratitude, which demands a greater recognition
of his own kindness; and in order that his reputation
may be spread abroad, it demands that the other be
ready, as a handmaid, so to speak, to inspire in others
an idea of his fame and nobility. Doubtless the idea
others may entertain of our ability to be of service to
general or individual needs, tickles us, and raises
plumes for us like those of a peacock, wherefore gen-
erosity is found among the virtues. But who does not
see the imperfection of our nature? Who, however,
would say that God, the most perfect of all beings,
wants anything? Or that he wishes for any such thing
if he is perfect and already self-sufficient and honored
without any external honors. Who would say that he
wants honor except those who persist in honoring him?
The desire for honor is a sign of imperfection and
lack of power.
The consensus of opinion among all races on this
subject, is urged by those who have talked with
scarcely alleven of their own friends, or have examined
three or four books treating of the testimony of the
world, not even carefully considering how far the
authors had knowledge of the customs of the world;
but those excellent authors were not familiar with @d/
customs. Notice, however, that when one is consid-
ering the matter, the objection here arises, that the
118 DIE DREI ERZBETRUEGER.
fundamental reasons for worship are connected with
God himself and his works, and not with the elementary
constitution of any society. For there is no one who
is not aware that worship is due to the custom, preva-
lent among the ruling and rich classes especially, of
maintaining some external form of religion in order to
calm the passions of the people.
But if you are concerned about the former reason,
who would believe that in the principal seat of the
Christian religion, —Italy,—there are so many free-
thinkers, or to speak more meaningly, Atheists, and if
he should believe it, would say that there is a consensus
of opinion among all races. God zs, therefore should
he be worshipped? Because, forsooth, the wiser men
at least say so? Who, pray, are the wiser? The
high priest, the augurs, the soothsayers of the ancients,
Cicero, Caesar, the leading men and their priestly
adherents, etc.
Would they let it be known that such practices were
to their interests? Doubtless those in control of public
affairs, deriving their profits from the credulity of the
people, told fear-inspiring stories of the power and
vengeance of the invisible gods, and lied about their
own occasional meetings and association with them ;
and demanded in proportion to their own luxury beings
suitable for or even surpassing themselves. For it is
not to be wondered at that priests promulgate such
teachings, since this is their method of maintaining
their own lives. And such are the teachings of the
wiser men.
This world may depend on the control of a prime
mover ; this is certainly the fact—that the dependence
wil be only at the start. For why might there not
have been a first command of God, such that every-
DE LOS TRES IMPOSTORES. 119
thing would go in a foreordained course to a fixed end,
if he wished to fix one. There would no longer be
need of new care, dependence or support, but he might
at first have endowed every one with sufficient powers.
And why should it not be said that he did this? For it
is not to be supposed that he visits all the elements and
parts of the universe as a physician does a sick man.
What then is to be said of the testimony of con-
science? and whence would come those fears of the
mind because of wrong-doing, were it not evident that
there is near us a higher power who sees and punishes
us, whom wrong-doing displeases just as it is altogether
at variance with worship of him? It is not now my
purpose to inquire more deeply into the nature of good
and evil nor the dangers of prejudice and the folly of
great fear which springs from preconceived ideas.
This merely I say. Whence did they arise? especially
since all evil-doing depends on the corruption and
destruction of the harmony resulting from the inter-
change of services in the wants to which the human
race is subject, and since the idea about one who wishes
to z2crease rather than to be of azd in those wants,
renders him an object of hatred. Whence it happens
that he himself may fear lest he may incur the hatred
and contempt of others, or a like refusal to satisfy his
wants; or may lose his power of being of service not
only to others but to himself, in so far indeed as he
needs to fear any harm from being wronged by others.
And so, they say, those who do not have the light
of Holy Scriptures, follow the natural light in accord-
ance with the dictates of their consciences, which
proves to be sure, that God has endowed the intellect of
all men with some sparks of his own knowledge and
will, and if they act according to these it must be said
120 DEI TRE IMPOSTORI.
that they have done right. For what reason of theirs
can be a command to worship God if this is not? But
it is maintained on many grounds that beasts act
according to the guide of reason, and this matter has
not yet been decided ; nevertheless I do not urge this.
Who has said anything to you to prove that this does
not occur, or that a trained animal does not at times
surpass an ignorant and uneducated man in intellect
and powers of judgment? But to speak to the point,
the majority of men of leisure who have had time to
consider subtile ideas and those beyond the compre-
hension of the ordinary intellect, in order to gratify
their own pride and promote their own advantage,
have devised many subtile principles for which Alexis
and Thyrsis, prevented by their pastoral and rustic
duties, could have had no leisure. Wherefore, the
latter have placed confidence in the philosophers of
leisure, as if they were wiser, while they are more
fitted to impose on the foolish. Hence, good Alexis,
go to, worship the sylvan Pans, Satyrs and Dianas, etc.
For the great philosophers will tell you about the
dream of Numa Pompilius, and narrate to you the
story of his concubinage with the nymph Aegeria, and
they will wish by this very account to bind you to his
worship, and as a reward for this pious work, because
of the reconciliation and favor of those invisible powers,
they will demand for their own support, the flower of
your flock and your labor as a sacrifice. And hence,
since Titius worshipped Pan, Alexis, the Fauns, Rome,
the Gods of War, Athens, the unknown Gods, is it to
be supposed that those good men learned from the light
of reason certain tales which were the idle inventions
and ideas of philosophers? not to attack too harshly
the religion of others.
DE TRIBUS IMPOSTORIBUS. I2I
And why did not this reason also tell that they
were mistakenin their worship, in foolishly worshipping
statues and stones, as if they were the dwelling places
of their Gods? But is it indeed to be supposed that
since good women bestowed such worship on Francis,
Ignatius and Dominicus and such men, reason teaches
that at least some one among holy men should be wor-
shipped? That they learn from the light of nature the
worship of some superior power no longer visible?
although, nevertheless, such are the fabrications of
our priests of leisure for the more splendid increase of
their own means of support.
Therefore, there is no God? Suppose there is (a
God.) "Therefore, should he be worshipped? But
this does not follow, because he desires worship as far
as he has inscribed it in the heart. What more then?
We should then follow the guide of our nature. But
this is known to be imperfect. In what respects? For
is it sufficient enough to maintain the society of men
peacefully? Because other religious people, following
revelation, do not pass more tranquil lives?
But is it rather because God demands of us
especially a more precise idea of God? But neverthe-
less you who promise this of any religion whatsoever,
do not supply it. For any revelation of what God is,
is far more unintelligible than before. And how will
you make this clearer by the conception of the intellect,
since he limits every intellect?
What do you think of these things?
No one, I say, has a knowledge of God, moreover
eye has not seen him, and he d wells in unapproachable
light, and from the time of revelation till now, in
allegory. But I suppose every one knows how clear
an allegory is. Wherefore do you indeed believe that
122 LES TROIS IMPOSTEURS.
God makes such demands? or is it from the desire of
the intellect to surmount the limitations of its own
capacity in order to comprehend everything more per-
fectly than it does, or from something else? Who of
you is there who speaks from special revelation? Good
God! what a hodge-podge of revelations. Do you
point to the oracles of the heathen? Antiquity has
already held them up to ridicule. To the testimony of
your priests? I can show you priests who will contra-
dict them. You may protest in your turn, but who will
be the judge? Who will put an end to these disputes?
Do you call attention to the writings of Moses, the
Prophets and Apostles? I bring to your notice the
Koran, which says that, according to a new revelation,
these are corrupt and its author boasts of having settled
by the sword the corruptions and altercations of Chris-
tians as did Moses those of the heathen. For by the
sword Mahomet and Moses subjugated Palestine, each
instructed by great miracles. And the writings of the
Sectarians as well as of the Vedas and the Brahmins
1300 years back, are in opposition, to say nothing of
the Sinenses.* You, who in some remote spot in
Europe are disputing about such things disregard or
deny these writings. You yourself should see very
clearly that with equal ease they deny your writings.
And what proofs not miraculous, would be sufficient to
convince the inhabitants of the world, if it were evident
from the first three books of Veda, that the world was
contained in and came from an egg of a scorpion, and
that the earth and first elements of things was placed
on the head of a bull, if some envious son of the Gods
had not stolen these first three volumes. In our times
this would be laughed at; and among those people
*(?) Those holding sinecures.
THE THREE IMPOSTORS. 123
there would not be this strange argument to establish
their religion if it did not have its origin in the brains
of these priests.
And whence else came those many immense
volumes concerning the gods of the pagans and those
wagon loads of lies? Moses acted very wisely in first
becoming skilled in the arts of the Egyptians, that is in
the mastery of astrology and magic, and then by cruel
war driving from their homes the petty kings of Pales-
tine, and pretending a conference like that of Numa
Pompilius. Leading his army, confident of their for-
tunes, into the possessions of peaceful men; in order
that he, forsooth, might be a great general and his
brother high priest, and that he himself might be a
leader and dictator. But of what a people! Others
by milder means and by pulling the wool over the eyes
of the people under cover of profound sanctity (I am
afraid to mention other things, ) and by the pious deceits
of members of their sect in secret assemblies, first got
control of the ignorant country people and then,
because of the growing strength of the new religion,
they got control of those who feared for themselves,
and hated a leader of the people. At length another
eager for war, by feigning miracles attached to himself
the more ferocious people of Asia, who had suffered ill
treatment at the hands of commanders of the Christians,
and who, like Moses, with the promise of many victor-
ies and favors, he subjugated the warring and peaceful
leaders of Asia, and established his religion by the
sword. The first is considered the reformer of the
heathen, the second of Judaism and the third the
reformer of both. It remains to be seen who will be
the reformer of Mahomet and Mahometanism. Doubt-
less then, the credulity of men is likely to be imposed
124 DIE DREI ERZBETRUEGER.
on, and to take advantage of this under the pretense of
some gain to be derived, is rightly called zmposture.
It would be too long and tedious to show more at
length in this place, the nature and forms of what goes
under the name of imposture, but we must observe,
that, even if natural religion is granted and the worship
of God is right as far as it is said to be commanded by
nature; that up to this time the leader of every new
religion has been suspected of imposture, especially
since it is evident to all and is obvious from what has
been said or can be said, how many deceptions have
been used in propagating any religion.
It remains then unanswerable according to the
previous argument, that religion and the worship of
God according to the promptings of natural light, is
consistent with truth and justice ; but if any one wishes
to establish any new principles in religion, either new
or displeasing, and that by the authority of invisible
powers, it will evidently be necessary for him to show
his power of reforming, unless he wishes to be con-
sidered by all an impostor. Since, not under the con-
clusions of natural religion, nor under the authority of
special revelation, he offers opposition to the ideas of
all. Moreover he should be so upright in life and
character that the people may believe him worthy of
being associated with so high and holy a power, who
does not approve of anything impure. Nor can merely
his own confession, nor the holiness of a past life, nor
any miracles—that is extraordinary deeds—prove this ;
for this is common rather among the skillful and the
deceivers of men, lying hypocrites who pursue their
own advantage and glory in this way. For it is not
worth considering that some reached such a degree of
madness that they voluntarily sought death, in order
DE LOS TRES IMPOSTORES. 125
that it might be supposed that they despised and con-
quered everything, like different ones among the ancient
philosophers. Nor is it to be supposed that they were
upheld by special divine powers in that which they did
because of foolish fancies and fond hopes of moun-
tains of gold, rising from a defective judgment. For
they did not give the matter the proper considera-
tion, nor did the real teachers, for in order that you
may come to a fair decision about them, I have said
not only is their own testimony not sufficient, but in
order to reach the truth of the matter, they must be
compared with one another; and other witnesses with
them, and then their acquaintances and friends, and
then strangers, then friends and enemies; and then
after the testimony is all gathered in, that of each
teacher concerning himself, and then that of others
must be compared. And if we do not know the wit-
nesses, we must consult the witnesses of the witnesses,
and so on; besides instituting an investigation as to your
powers of distinguishing from the true and the false
involved in such or other circumstances. Especially in
similar ones, inquiring, moreover, whence you desired
data to learn the truth, for this purpose comparing the
judgment of others, as to what they infer from such an
investigation or from the testimony of witnesses. And
from these data it will be permissible to infer whether
he who makes this claim, is a true messenger of the
revelation of divine will and whether his teachings
should be gradually adopted. But at this point we
must be very careful not to get into a circle. When-
ever the nature of important religions may be such that
one supplants another, as that of Moses, Paganism,
that of Mahomet, Christianity,—the later one may not
always nor in every particular cast aside the earlier, but
126 DEI TRE IMPOSTORI.
only in certain parts, to such an extent that the latter is
founded on the former, it will be necessary to investi-
gate carefully not only either the last, or the middle, or
the first, but all, especially since the charge of impost-
ure is brought by every sect. Sothe ancients were
charged with it by Christ, because they corrupted the
law; the Christians by Mahomet, because they cor-
rupted the gospels, a fact not to be wondered at, inas-
much as one sect of Christians charges the other with
corrupting texts of the New Testament, so that it can
[not] be ascertained whether he who is offered as an
example is a teacher of a true religion or how far those
who claim to have been given authority, should be
listened to. For in an investigation no sect must be
overlooked, but each must be compared with the rest
without any prejudice. For if one is overlooked, that
perhaps, is the very one which is nearer the truth.
Thus, those who followed Moses, have followed the
truth according to the Christians also, but they ought
not to have paused at that point, but should examine
the truth of the Christian religion also.
Each sect maintains that its own teachers are the
best and that it has had and is daily having proof of
this, and that there are no better ones, so that either
every one must believe it, which would be absurd, or
no one, which is the safer plan, until the true way is
known, though no sect should be disregarded in a com-
parison.
There is no need of presenting the objection that
it is known that all mathematicians agree that twice
two is four. For it is not a similar case, since no one
has been known to doubt whether twice two is four,
while on the contrary religions agree neither in end,
beginning nor middle. Suppose that Ido not know
DE TRIBUS IMPOSTORIBUS. 127
the true way of salvation; I follow, however, the
Brahmins or the Koran. Will not Moses and the rest
say: What wrong have we done you that you thus
reject us, though we are better and nearer the truth?
What reply shall we make? I believed in Mahomet
or the Gymnosophistes*, in whose teachings I was
born and brought up, and from them I learned that
your religion and that of the Christians which followed,
have long since decayed and grown corrupt, and are
still misleading. Will they not reply that they do not
know anything about the others and that these do not
know anything about the true guide to salvation, since
they know that those who are corruptors of the people
are impostors, feigning miracles, or by lies pulling the
wool over the eyes of the people. Nor should faith
be thus simply given to one man or one sect, rejecting
all others without a complete and proper investigation.
For with equal right the Ethiopian, who has not left
his own land, says that there are no men under the sun
except those of a black color.
Moreover, this precaution also should be taken in
the investigation of other sects, that equal care should
be used in an investigation of all, and while one is
explained with great pains, the other should not be
slighted, because one claim or another at first sight
*A sect of East Indian philosophers who went about almost naked,
ate no flesh, renounced all bodily pleasures, and simply contemplated
nature.
The ** Pre-Adamite doctrine," similar to the above, was published
by Isaac de Peyrere about 1655. These fanatics believed that mankind lost
none of their innocence by the fall of Adam. Both men and women made
their appearance in the streets of Munster, France, in puris naturalibus, as
did our first parents in the Garden of Eden, before the fruit incident, which
brought so much trouble into the world. The magistrates failed to put
them down, and the military had some difficulty in abolishing this ab-
surdity.—A. N.
128 LES TROIS IMPOSTEURS.
seems to be wrong, or because of the evil reports of
gossip concerning the leader of that sect, while other
reports are cast aside. For that should not be set
down as doctrine or indubitable testimony, which the
first vagabond that comes along asserts about a hostile
religion. Indeed, with equal right on account of com-
mon gossip and the mere mention of a name, the
Christian religion was to some an object of horror, and
to others an object of scorn. With the latter because
the Christians worshipped the head of an ass, and with
the former because they ate and drank their God, so
that at length the report became current that to be a
Christian was to be a deadly enemy of God and men;
when, nevertheless, such tales were either things
which had been misunderstood or skillfully told lies,
which were then confirmed, and having some founda-
tion, spread abroad because an enemy of that religion
had absolutely no intercourse, or no proper intercourse,
with the Christians themselves, or the more learned
among them, but believed the first ignorant person or
deserter or enemy of that religion. Such a method of
investigation being decided upon, it would always be a
matter of great difficulty. What shall we say about
women, what about children, what about the majority
of the masses of the people? All children will
be excluded from a feeling of security in regard
to their religion, and the majority of women to
whom even those matters which have been most
clearly explained by the leaders of any religion, as far
as can be done, are obscure: also from their manner
of life you rightly perceive that with the exception of
a very few superior ones, they have no accurate powers
of comprehending mysteries of such a character, to say
nothing of the countless numbers of insignificant per-
THE THREE IMPOSTORS. 129
sons and country people for whom the question of their
own support is the most important subject for the
exercise of their powers of reason, while other matters
they accept or reject in good faith. Doubtless there is
only a very small part of the world, who weigh all
religions, compare their own carefully with others and
correctly distinguish true reasons from false, in details
in which deception may creep in; but the majority
rather adopt the faith of others, of teachers of sacred
matters especially, whose knowledge and powers of
judgment in sacred matters are considered noteworthy.
And so in any religion this is done, especially by
those who can not read and write or do not have any-
thing to read. But it should have been observed that
in this matter it is not sufficient that the teachers of any
religion should have the power, because of very exact
powers of judgment and avowed experience, of dis-
tinguishing the true from the false. Indeed it ought to
be very certain to others, with powers of judgment no
less exact, that those teachers have not only the ability
to distinguish the true from the false, but the desire as
well, and indeed we ought to be especially certain that
he who professes such a knowledge and desire is neither
deceived nor wishes to be.
And what choice shall we make here among so
many teachers so much at variance in even one emi-
nent sect? For when we look at our comrades and
associates, who disagree on many subjects, although
they are most friendly in other respects, one of the two
disputants will maintain his opinion on account of some
defect, either because he has not a correct understand-
ing of the matter, and lacks the power of judgment, or
because he does not wish to give up, and so does not
desire to confess the truth. But although it might be
130 DIE DREI ERZBETRUEGER.
matters of secondary importance in which this happened,
nevertheless the result will be that they will be mis-
trusted in other matters also. Each doubtless is in
possession of one truth, and he who gives this up in
one place, either from a defect of judgment or a wrong
desire is deservedly mistrusted of doing the same thing
in other cases.
Therefore, that you may judge of the ability and
honesty of any teacher in religion, /rs?, it is necessary
for you to be just as able as he ; for otherwise he will
be able to impose on you very easily, and, moreover, if
he is unknown to you, he will need the testimony of
others, and these again of others, and so on indefinitely;
not only in regard to his truthfulness, that he really
taught such doctrines, but in regard to his honesty, that
he did this without deceit. And the same method
must at once be employed in regard to the witnesses
of his honesty and his teachings. But where will you
place an end to this? It is not enough that such dis-
cussions have already taken place among others; you
must consider how wellthis has been done. For the
ordinary proofs which are set forth are neither conclu-
sive nor manifest, and prove doubtful matters by others
more doubtful, so that, like those who run in a circle,
you return to the starting point.
In order that it may be manifest whether any one
is a teacher of a true religion or an impostor, there is
need either of personal knowledge, which we can not
have in the case of the three great founders of the
religions of Judaism, Christianity and Mahometanism,
inasmuch as they lived in far distant places and died
long before our time ; or of the knowledge of others,
which, if any one imparts it to you, we call testimony.
Between these, there is still another way of know-
DE LOS TRES IMPOSTORES. 131
ing any one, namely through his own writings, which
may be called one’s own testimony concerning himself.
And concerning Christ, there is no such testimony ;
concerning Moses, it is doubtful whether there is ; con-
cerning Mahomet, there is the Koran. The testimony
of others is of two classes—that of friends and that of
enemies. Between these extremes there is no third
class, according to the saying, ‘‘who is not with me is
against me." Mahomet in his writings assumes and
attributes to himself the same divine qualities as did
Moses and another. Moreover the friends of Mahomet
and members of his sect wrote the same things con-
cerning him as did the members of the sects of the
others concerning their masters, and the enemies of
the others wrote just as disparagingly of them as ¢hezr
friends did of Mahomet. As for the rest, the testimony
of any one concerning himself is too unreliable to in-
spire implicit confidence, and is of no consequence
except, perchance, to perplex a thoughtless hearer.
The assertions of friends, who doubtless unanimously
repeat the sayings of their masters, are of the same
nature. Nor should the enemies of any one be heeded
on account of their prejudices. But as it is, in spite of
these facts, it is for such trivial reasons, which are con-
firmed only by the master's own boasts, the assertions
of friends, or the calumnies of enemies, that every
follower of any one of the three assumes that the claims
of his enemy are based wholly on imposture, while the
teachings of his master are founded wholly on truth.
Nevertheless Mahomet is undoubtedly considered an
impostor among us; but why? Not from his own tes-
timony or that of his friends but from that of his
enemies. Then, on the contrary, among the Mahom-
etans he is considered a most holy prophet; but why?
132 DEI TRE IMPOSTORI.
From his own testimony, but especially from that of
his friends. Whoever considers Moses an impostor or
a holy teacher employs the same method of reasoning.
And there is equal reason in the case of Mahomet as
in the case of the others, either for charging him with
imposture or for answering that charge, although,
nevertheless, the former are considered holy, while he
is considered a scoundrel, contrary to all the demands
of justice. To put it in the scholastic manner, then,
the following conclusions are most firmly established :
Whenever there is the same reason as in the case of
Mahomet for charging any person with imposture or
for answering that charge, they should be placed in
the same category. And for example, in the case of
Moses, there is the same reason, therefore justice
should be demanded just as in the case of Mahomet,
nor should he be considered an impostor.
PROOF OF MINOR PREMISE.
(a.) In regard to the rebuttal of the charge of
imposture : this is based on the above-mentioned testi-
mony not only of Mahomet concerning himself in his
well-known writings, but on that of every one of his
friends concerning their master, and hence, it logically
follows :
(I.) Whatever value the testimony of Moses’
friends has in defending him on the charge of impos-
ture, the testimony of Mahomet's friends ought to have
the same value. And whatever the value of the
acquittal, though their favorable testimony, etc., etc.
Therefore, etc.
(II.) And whatever value the books of Moses
have for this purpose, the same value the Koran has
also. And so, etc. "Therefore, etc.
DE TRIBUS IMPOSTORIBUS. 133
Moreover, the Mussulmen, from the very books of
the New Testament (although according to these very
persons, these books have been much corrupted in
other respects, ) draw various arguments even in sup-
port of their Mahomet, and especially that prediction of
Christ concerning the future Paraclete.* They main-
tain that he came and exposed the corruption of
the Christians, and established anew covenant. And
although at other times the Koran is charged with
many silly, nay impious tales, all these nevertheless,
can be explained in a spiritual sense or smoothed
over in other ways, since the rest of the teachings insist
on nothing but extreme sanctity and a stringent mode
of morals, but especially on temperance and abstinence
from wine. And to the objection frequently raised
that wine is the gift of God, the reply can be made that
so also are poisons, and yet we are not supposed to drink
them. The further objection often made that the spirit
of the Koran is too carnal, and fills eternal life with
pleasures of the world and the flesh, polygamy more-
over being so indiscriminately permitted, it is not of
such weight that it can not be confuted, since Moses
also permitted polygamy and in the New Testament life
eternal admits of banquets, e. g., you will sit down
with Abraham and Isaac, etc., etc. Again, I shall not
taste wine except in the Kingdom of my Father. It is
said that all those pleasures mentioned in the Song of
Solomon, which is, of course, also instanced, are not
wrong, and when explained in a spiritual sense imply
no wrong, although the same thing is not said of the
Koran. And if we are too severely critical of the words
of the Koran, we ought to employ the same severity of
criticism against the writings of Moses and others.
*An Intercessor, applied to the Holy Spirit.
134 LES TROIS IMPOSTEURS.
Moreover the arguments which are offered from Moses
himself in answer to the charge of imposture, do not
seem reasonable nor of sufficient weight.
(I.) Our knowledge of the intercourse Moses had
with God depends on his own testimony and that of his
friends, and hence such evidence can have no more
weight than similar arguments of the Mussulmen con-
cerning the conference that Mahomet had with Gabriel ;
and what is more, this intercourse of Moses, according
to Moses himself (if all those sayings are Moses’, which
are commonly attributed to him) is open to the sus-
picion of imposture, as is to be shown below.
(II.) No one indeed who is acquainted with the
many very grave crimes of Moses, will be able to say
easily or at least justly, that his holiness of life can not
easily be matched. His crimes then are the following :
(a.) Fraud, which none but his friends have pal-
liated, but they are notimpartial judges of the matter ;
nor does that commendatory passage of Luke in the
Acts of the Apostles form any apology, for there is
dispute as to the honesty and veracity of that witness.
(b.) The stirring up of rebellion; for it can not
be proved that this was due to a command of God,
nay, the contrary is clear, since elsewhere Moses is
urged to forbid resistance to tyrants.
(c.) Wars, although murder is contrary to the
V. and VII. (PVI.)* commandments of Moses him-
self, unrestrained plunder, etc., etc. ; just as the high
priest in India, or Mahomet in his land, offering the
command of God as a pretext, drove from their terri-
tory the former possessors. Moses slew thousands and
gave them over to slaughter in order to insure salva-
tion to himself and his people.
*Average seems to indicate the VI. Commandment.—A. N.
THE THREE IMPOSTORS. 135
(d.) The teaching concerning the taking of the
property of others under the pretense of a loan.
(e.) The prayer to God in which Moses desired
to die eternally for his people, although this petition
asked of God such things as would destroy his essence.
See Exodus xxxi, 31, 32.
(£) Neglect of the commands of God in regard
to circumcision (Exodus iv, 24, 25, 26, )f and finally,
(g.) The chief of Moses! crimes, the extreme
and stupid incredulity of one who was chosen to per-
form so many miracles by the power of God, and who
nevertheless on account of his wavering faith was
censured by God himself severely and with the threat
of punishment. (Numbers xx, 12).]
As to
(b.) The proof of the other argument, namely,
the charge of imposture, it can be said: We believe
that Mahomet was an impostor, not from our personal
knowledge, as was pointed out above, but from the
testimony, not of his friends, but of his enemies. But
all such are anti-Mahometans, according to the saying
* Who is not with me is against me," etc., etc.:
hence follows the conclusion: Whatever weight the
testimony of enemies has in the case of one, that it
* Exodus xxxit, 31, 32. And Moses returned unto the Lord, and said,
Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made them gods of gold.
Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin, and if not, blot me, I pray
thee, out of thy book which thou hast written.
TExodus iv, 24, 25, 26. Then Zipporah took a sharp stone, and cut
off the foreskin of her son, and cast it at his (?the Lord's) feet, and said,
Surely a bloody husband art thou to me.
So he (the Lord) let him (Moses) go: then she said, a bloody
husband thou art, because of the circumcision.
tMumbers xx, 12. And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron,
because ye believed me not, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of
Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this congregation into the land which I
have given them.
136 DIE DREI ERZBETRUEGER.
ought to have in the case of the other also. Otherwise
we shall be unjust in condemning one from the testi-
mony of enemies and not the other ; if this were done,
all justice would be at an end.
And in the case of Mahomet, the testimony of
enemies has such weight, that he is considered an
Impostor, therefore, etc., etc.
Furthermore, I say that reasons for suspecting
Moses of imposture can be elicited not only from
external, but from internal evidence, whereby impos-
ture can be proved by his own testimony as well as by
that of others, albeit, his followers, although there is
still dispute.
(I.) Whether the books, which are said to be
those of Moses, are his or (II.) those of compilers,
(III. ) or those of Esdras, especially, and (IV.) whether
they were written in the Samaritan, or (V.) the real
Hebrew language; and (VI.) if the latter, whether
we can understand that language. All these matters
are doubtful for many reasons, and especially it can be
shown from the first chapters of Genesis that we can
not correctly interpret that language. I confess I am
unwilling to concern myself with these points, but I
wish to discuss the man.
I. From Moses! own testimony and indeed
(a.) concerning his life and character which we
have considered above, and which, if any blame is
attached to Mahomet on account of the fierce wars he
waged, especially against the innocent, is equally blam-
able, and in other respects does not seem at all different
from Mahomet's.
(b.) Concerning the authority of his own teach-
ing. And here applies what was said above about
Moses! intercourse with God, which Moses indeed
DE LOS TRES IMPOSTORES. 137
boasted of but evidently with too great exaggeration.
For if any one boasts of intercourse with God of an
impossible nature, his intercourse is properly doubted
and Moses, etc. "Therefore, etc. It is proved because
he boasts of having seen that of which in the Old and
in the New Testament afterward, it is very often said
that no eye has seen (namely) God face to face. Ex-
odus xxxii. 11. Numbers xii. 8.* Thus he saw God
(1) in his own form, not in a vision nor in a dream (2),
but face to face as friend to friend when he spoke
directly to him. But any vision, which (1) is like that
of friends speaking face to face, directly to one another,
(2) like that of the blessed in the other life, is properly
called and considered a vision of God. And Moses, etc.
Therefore, etc. The Minor premise is proved from
the passages previously cited and from the words of
the Apostle: then indeed face to face, etc., and there
is the same argument in the passages of Moses and in
that of the Apostle. And yet among Christians the
belief is most firmly established that no unjust person
can see God in this life. And in the above passage of
Exodus xxxiii. 20, it is expressly added: you will not
be able to see my face. These words God addressed
to Moses and they are in direct contradiction to the
passages previously cited, so that these claims can be
explained in no other way than by saying that they were
added by a thoughtless compiler, but by so doing the
whole is rendered doubtful.
*Exodus xxxii. 11. And Moses besought the Lord his God, and
said, Lord why doth thy wrath wax hot against thy people, which thou
hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt, with great power, and with a
mighty hand?
Numbers xii. 8. With him (Moses) will I speak mouth to mouth,
even apparent and not in dark speeches; and the similitude of the Lord
shall he behold: wherefore then were ye not afraid to speak against my
servant Moses?
tExodus xxxiii. 20. Behold, I send an Angel before thee, to keep
thee in the way, and to bring thee in the place which I have prepared.
138 DEI TRE IMPOSTORI.
(c.) Concerning the teachings of Moses, which
relate either to the laws or the gospel. Among the
laws, all of which for the sake of brevity I can not
now consider, the decalogue is most important, being
called the special work of God and said to have been
written on Mount Horeb. But it is evident it was
devised by Moses before it was written by God, be-
cause these commands are not in themselves character-
ized by the perfection of God, since (1) they are either
superfluous, namely the last three, arguing from the
words of Christ in Math. v,* undoubtedly relating to
the former, while the IX should not be separated from
the X, and they will likewise be superfluous (2) or
they are defective. For where are these command-
ments: thou shalt not desire to have other Gods, nor
desire to curse God, nor desire to desecrate the Sab-
bath, nor to injure thy parents, and similar ones? And
is it to be presumed that God would forbid the lesser
sins of coveting a neighbor’s house, land and property
especially, and in an order so extraordinary, and not
the greater? As to the teaching of Moses concerning
the gospel, he establishes a very foolish and untrust-
worthy sign of the future great prophet, or Christ.
Deut. xviii, 21, 22,f since this sign makes faith impos-
sible for a long time. From this dictum it follows that
Christ, having predicted the fall of Jerusalem, ought
not to have been considered a true prophet while that
prophecy was as yet unfulfilled (nor should Daniel,
* Matthew V. Sermon on the Mount, 17. Think not that I am come
to destroy thelaw, etc. Matt. x, 2? names Apostles.
tDeuteronomy xviii, 21, 22. And if thou say in thine heart, How
shall we know the word which the Lord hath zo? spoken?
When a prophet speaketh in the name of the Lord, if the thing
follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord hath zo?
spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be
afraid of him.
DE TRIBUS IMPOSTORIBUS. 139
until his prophecy had been fulfilled), and so those
who lived in the interval between the time of Christ
and the overthrow of Judea, can not be blamed for not
believing in him, although Paul hurled anathemas at
those who did not attach themselves to Christ before
the fall.
Whatever sign, then, permits people for a long
time to believe what they please with impunity, can not
proceed from God, but is justly subject to suspicion.
And this sign was given, etc., therefore, etc.
What is said concerning the fulfillment of other
prophecies is no objection. For itis the special and
genuine sign of that great prophet, that his predictions
are fulfilled. Wherefore, naturally, previous to this
fulfillment he could not have been considered such a
prophet.
The other absurd conclusion which evidently
follows from this passage, is this: that although this
sign ought to have been the proof of the divine inspira-
tion of all prophets, in the case of certain prophets who
made predictions, indefinite indeed, but in words not
admitting a moral interpretation (such as soon, swiftly,
near, etc.,) that sign can by no means be found, e. g.
Many predict the last day of the world and Peter said
that that day was at hand; therefore, so far, until
it comes it will be impossible to consider him a true
prophet.
For such is the express requirement Moses makes
in the passage cited.
(d.) Concerning the histories of Moses. Butif
the Koran is charged with containing many fables,
doubtless in Genesis there are many stories to arouse
the suspicions of the thoughtful reader : as the creation
of man from the dust of the earth, the inspiration of
140 LES TROIS IMPOSTEURS.
the breath of life, the creation of Eve from the rib of
the man, serpents speaking and seducing human beings,
who were very wise and well aware that the serpent
was possessed by the father of lies, the eating of an
apple which was to bring punishment upon the whole
world, which would make finite one of the attributes of
God, namely his clemency (the attributes of God being
identical with his essence), as the redemption of the
fallen would make finite the wrath of God, and so God
himself: for the wrath of God is God himself; men
eight or nine hundred years old; the passage of the
animals into the ark of Noah, the tower of Babel, the
confusion of tongues, etc., etc. These and a thousand
other stories can not fail to impress the investigating
freethinker as being similar to the fables, especially of
the Rabbins since the Jewish race is very much addicted
to the use of fables; nor at all inconsistent with other
works, to mention those of Ovid, the Vedas, those of
the Sinenses and the Brahmins of India, who tell that
a beautiful daughter born from an egg bore the world,
and similar absurdities. But Moses especially seems
to arrest our attention because he represents God as
contradicting himself, namely, saying that all things
were good and yet that it was not good for Adam to
be alone. Whence it follows that there was something
apart from Adam that was not good and so could injure
the good condition of Adam, while, nevertheless, the
solitude of Adam itself was the work of God, since he
had created goodness not only of the essences but also
of the qualities.
For all things were good in that quality in which
God had created them. I adduce as proof: It is
impossible for any work created by God not to be
good. And the solitude of Adam, etc., etc. There-
fore, etc.
THE THREE IMPOSTORS. 141
Whoever enters upon the study of the genealogies
of the Old Testament finds many difficulties in Moses.
I shall not now cite all, contenting myself with merely
this one example, since Paul, I. Tim.i., 4,* has taught
that genealogies are useless, and the study of them
unprofitable, nay, to be avoided. Of what use were so
many separate, nay, so oft times repeated, genealogies?
And there is a remarkable example to arouse suspicion
at least of the corruption of the text or of the careless-
ness of compilers, in the case of the wives of Esau and
the different things said of them.
WIVES OF ESAU.
**Genesis xxvi, 34:
Judith, daughter of Berit, the Hittite.
Basnath, daughter of Elon, the Hittite.
Genesis xxviii, 9:
Mahalaad, daughter of Ishmael, sister of Naba-
joth, who is mentioned after the two former.
Genesis xxxvi, 2:
Ada, daughter of Elon, the Hittite.
Akalibama, C. I.
Basnath, daughter of Ishmael, sister of Nabajoth.
The one who is called Ada in Genesis xxxvi, is
called Basnath in Gen. xxvi, namely, the daughter of
* Paul to Timothy (7.) I. 4. Neither give heed to fables and endless
genealogies, etc.
** Genesis xxvi, 84, 35. And Esau was forty years old when he took
to wife Judith the daughter of Beeri, the Hittite, and Bashemath the
daughter of Elon, the Hittite, which were a grief of mind unto Isaac and
Rebekah.
Genesis xxviii, 9. Then went Esau unto Ishmael, and took unto the
wives which he had, Mahalath, the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham's son,
the sister of Nabajoth, to be his wife.
Genesis xxxvi, 2, 3 Esau took his wives of the daughters of
Canaan, Adah, the daughter of Elon, the Hittite, and Aholibamah, the
daughter of Anah, the daughter of Zibeon, the Hivite, and Bashemath,
Ishmael’s daughter, sister of Nabajoth.
142 DIE DREI ERZBETRUEGER.
Elon,the Hittite, and the one who is called Basnath in
Gen. xxxvi, is called Mahalaad in Gen. xxviii, namely,
the sister of Nabajoth, although, nevertheless, Ma-
halaad, in the passage cited in Gen. xxviii, is said to
have been married after Judith and Basnath, previously
mentioned in Gen. xxvi.
I do not yet see how these names are to be recon-
ciled. And these and similar passages increase the
suspicion that the writings of Moses which we have,
have been put together by compilers and that errors in
writing have crept in at some time.
Finally the most conclusive argument against the
authenticity of Moses is the excessive tautology and
useless repetition, with always the same amount of dif-
ference, as if different passages had been collected from
different authors.
(II) To prove that Moses is subject to suspicion
from the testimony, not of his enemies only, but from
that of those who openly professed to be his followers
and disciples. And this testimony is
(g.) Of Peter, Acts xv. 10,* calling the yoke of
Moses insupportable : and hence either God must be a
tyrant, which would be inconsistent with his nature, or
Peter speaks falsely, or the laws of Moses are not divine.
(h.) Of Paul always speaking slightingly of the
laws of Moses, which he would not do if he considered
them divine. "Thus Gal. iv.** he calls them
(a.) Bondage v. 3, 4, but who would have so
called the laws of God.
* Acts xv. 10. Now therefore why tempt ye God, to put a yoke upon
the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?
** Galatians 3, 4. Even so we when we were children, were in bond-
age under the elements of the world: but when the fulness of the time was
come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law.
v.9. But now after that ye have known God, or rather are known
DE LOS TRES IMPOSTORES. 143
(b.) Beggarly commands v. 9.**
(c.) V.30,** he writes : Cast out the bond woman
and her son. Hagar, the bond woman, is the covenant
of Mount Sinai, which is the law of Moses according
to v. 24.** But who would tolerate the saying, cast
out the law of God and its children, and followers, al-
though Paul himself, as he asserts here and in the fol-
lowing chapter Gal. iv. 2, 3,** does not permit Tim-
othy to be circumcised. Act xvi.*
(d.) He calls the law a dead letter, and what else
does he not call it? II. Cor. iii., 6-10** and following.
of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto
ye desire again to be in bondage.
v.30. Nevertheless what saith the Scripture? cast out the bond-
woman and her son: for the son of the bond-woman shall not be heir with
the son of the free-woman.
v.24. Which things are an allegory: for these are the two cove-
nants; the one from the mount of Sinai, which gendereth to bondage,
which is Agar.
Galatians v. 2, 3. Behold,I Paul say unto you, that if ye be circum-
cised, Christ shall profit you nothing. For I testify again to every man
that is circumcised, that is a debtor to do the whole law.
*Acts xvi, I, 2, 3. Then came he to Derbe and Lystra, and behold, a
certain disciple was there, named Timotheus, the son of a certain woman
which was a Jewess, and believed, but his father was a Greek; which was
well reported of by the brethren that were at Lystra and Iconium. Him
would Paul have to go forth with him, and took and circumcised him,
because of the Jews which were in those quarters, for they knew all that
his father was a Greek.
**II. Cor. iii., 6-10. Who also hath made us able ministers of the
New Testament, not of the letter, but of the spirit; for the letter killeth,
but the spirit giveth life. But if the ministration of death, written and
engraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not
steadfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance;
which glory was to be done away: How shall not the ministration of the
spirit be rather glorious? For if the ministration of condemnation be
glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory.
For even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect, by
reason of the glory that excelleth.
II. Cor. v. 10. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of
Christ; that everyone may receive the things done in his body, according
to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.
144 DEI TRE IMPOSTORI.
Likewise he did not consider its glory worth consider-
ing. c. v., 10. Who would say such things of the
most holy law of God? If itis just as divine as the
gospel it ought to have equal glory, etc., etc.
The testimony of those who are outside of the
Jewish or Christian church, is etc., etc.
TANTUM.
CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY.
In the library of Cornell University, at Ithaca,
N. Y., is a large collection of Spinoza manuscripts and
printed books by the same author. The collection was
left to the library, and is known as the ‘Strauss
Collection?" In the collection is a manuscript copy of
* La vie et l'esprit de M. Benoit de Spinosa," which
includes ** Le trazté des trois Imposteurs.”’
This particular manuscript is much longer than any
of the printed editions of Zravté des Trois Imposteurs,
and includes several more chapters than another manu-
script which is in same library.
'The printed editions usually contain six chapters,
although the edition à Philadelphie, 1796, alluded to
on pages 18-19, contains nine chapters. None of the
printed editions that I have seen contains a chapter
entitled Muma Pompilius.
The manuscript in Cornell library has szx additional
chapters more than our manuscript, 1716, which chap-
ters are entitled: 1. Religions. 2. Of the Diversity
of Religions. 3. Divisions of Christians. 4. The
Superstitious,—of the superstition and credulity of
the people. 5. Of the Origin of Monarchies. 6. Of
Legislators and Politicians, and how they serve them-
selves with Religion.
These chapters being but an elaboration of the
matters and ideas contained in our English translation.
—A.N.
TRANSLATIONS
OF LATIN FOUND IN THE TEXT.
P. 8, paragraph 3, ‘‘Athetsmus Triumphatus.’’
Atheism destroyed.
P. 10, paragraph 1, ‘‘ Perini del Vago, Equitis de
Malta, Epistolium ad Batavum in Brittania hospit-
em de tribus Impostoribus," (3 Greek words omitted).
Epistle to Batavus, a friend in Britain, about the Three
Impostors (the Pamphleteers, Sycophants and so-called
Doctors).
P. 12, line 2, **Cdiculum et imposturae in omni
hominum religione, scriptio paradoxa, quam ex auto-
grapho gallico Victoris Amadeo Verimontiz ob sum-
mam rei dignitatem in latinum sermonem transtulit."
What is ridiculous, and the impostures in every religion
of mankind, a strange writing, which he translated into
Latin from the original French of Victor Amadeus
Verimontius, on account of the great worth of the
subject matter.
P. 12, line 9, **-Quaedam deficiunt s. fragmentum
de libro de tribus tmpostoribus.’’ Certain things are
missing. His fragment of the book about the three
impostors.
P. 12, line 12, “De imposturis religionum breve.
Compendium descriptum ab exemplari manuscripto
quod in bibliotheca F. Fred. Mayeri, Berolini, pub-
lice distracta deprehensum et a Principe Eugenio de
Sabaudio, $0 Imperialibus redemtum fuit." An ab-
stract about the impostures of religions. An abridg-
ment copied from the original manuscript which, at the
dispersal of the library of J. Fred. Mayer of Berlin, was
discovered and repurchased by Prince Eugene de
Sabaudio for 80 imperials.
DE TRIBUS IMPOSTORIBUS. 147
P. 12, line 18, * Communes namque demonstra-
tiones, quae publicantur, nec certae, nec evidentes,
sunt, et res dubias per alias saepe magias dubias
probant, adeo ut exemplo eorum, qui circulum cur-
runt, ad terminum semper redeant, a quo currere
inceperant. Pinis.)" For the ordinary arguments
which are set forth, are not established, nor are they
evident, and prove doubtful matters by others often
much more doubtful, just like those who run in a
circle, and always return to the starting point. End.
P. 12, last 7 lines, **.Quamvis omnium hominem
interstl nosse veritatem, rari tamen boni illi qui eam
norunt," etc." Although it is to the interest of all
men to know the truth, nevertheless those few good
men who know it, etc.
* Qui veritates amantes sunt, multum solatii inde
capient, et hi sunt, quibus placere gestimus, nil cur-
antes mancipia, quae prejudicia oraculorum—infal-
libilium loco venerantur." ‘Those who are lovers of
the truth will derive much comfort from this, and those
are the ones whom we are anxious to please, not caring
for those servile persons who reverence prejudices as
infallible oracles.
P. 13, paragraph 7, ** De impostura religionum
compendium s. liber de tribus tmpostoribus.’’ Treatise
about the imposture of religions. His book about the
three impostors.
P. 15, paragraph 2, *( Homo sum, nihil humania
me alienum uto." I am a man, I consider nothing
human alien to me.
Page 29, 4th paragraph. Latin orthography cor-
rected :
** Ouod de tribus famosissimis Nationum Decep-
foribus in ordinem. | Jussu. meo digessit Doctissimus
alle vir, quocum Sermonem de illa re in Museo meo
148 LES TROIS IMPOSTEURS.
habuisti exscribi curavi atque codicem tllum stilo
aeque, vero ac puro scriptum ad te ut primum mitto,
etenim tpstus perlegendi te accipio cupidissimum."
This treatise about the three most famous impos-
tors of the world, in accordance with my instructions
was put in order by that scholar with whom you had
the conversation concerning that matter in my library,
I had it copied, and that MS. written in a style equally
genuine and simple. I send you as soon as possible,
for I am sure you are very eager to read it.
P. 29-30, last paragraph, (Latin orthography cor-
rected), **Z. /iber de Nat. Deor. Qui Deos esse
dixerunt tanta sunt in Varietate et dissentione con-
stitut? ut eorum molestum sit dinumerare sententias.
Alterum fieri profecto potest ut eorum nulla, alterum
certe non potest ut plus unum vera fit. Summi quos
in Republica obtinuerat honores orator ille Romanus,
eaque quam servare famam Studiote curabat, in causa
fuere quod in Concione Deos non ausus sit negare
quamquam zn contesta Philosophorum, etc."
I. Book about the nature of the Gods. ‘‘ Those
who have said that there are Gods, are characterized
by such a variety of ideas and difference of belief, that
it would be difficult to enumerate their opinions.
On the one hand it might indeed happen that not
one of their opinions was true, but on the other hand,
certainly not more than one can be true." The great
honors which that famous Roman orator had gained in
the state, and that reputation, which he took the most
zealous care to maintain, were the reason why in a
public speech he dared not deny the Gods, although in
a discussion of philosophers, etc.
P. 35, last paragraph, ** De poteste Imperialt,”’
—Of the Imperial power.
P. 144, TANTUM—So Far.
QUIXOTISM.
Did you ever attend a meeting of the society for
the—perhaps I had better not mention the name of the
society, lest I tread on your favorite Quixotism. Suf-
fice it to say that it has a noble purpose. It aims at
nothing less than the complete transformation of human
society, by the use of means which, to say the least,
seem quite inadequate. After the minutes of the last
meeting have been read, and the objects of the society
have been once more stated with much detail, there is
an opportunity for discussion from the floor.
** Perhaps there is some one who may give some
new suggestions, or who may desire to ask a question?
You have observed what happens to the unfortunate
questioner. What a sorry exhibition he makes of him-
self! No sooner does he open his mouth than every
one recognizes his intellectual feebleness. He seems
unable to grasp the simplest ideas. He stumbles at the
first premise, and lies sprawling at the very threshold
of the argument.
* [f what I have taken for granted be true," says
the chairman, ‘‘do not all the fine things I have been
telling you about follow necessarily ?"
* But," murmurs the questioner, ‘‘the things you
take for granted are just what trouble me. They don’t
correspond to my experience."
‘Poor, feeble minded questioner P? cry the mem-
bers of the society, “to think that he is not able to take
things for granted! And then to set up his experience
against our constitution and by-laws P?
The Gentle Reader—JQuixotzsm — Samuel M.
Crothers.
CONTENTS.
PAGE
INTRODUCTION: Sens Le eC eu dde RU dx. ruseeee 3
BIBLIOGRAPHY 2305 Steam mene bocce Soe DCI 7
DISSERTATION.-.-. 1212002 diner en teat ecole Des 26
LETTER of Frederic the Emperor, to Otho, the Illustrious... 37
TREATISE.
(Originally Secs. 1-6, later, Chap. I.)
Reasons which have caused mankind to create for them-
selves an Invisible Being which has been commonly
called. GG odcusezic tesa LiT et E ees 44
(Originally Secs. 1-9 and x-xi, later Chap. II.)
Gop;wwhabds-olG re SEU Nr ee Ce ee MEE reer aah at Cp a. e 52
(Originally Secs. x-xi, later, Secs. 1-2, Chap. III.)
RELIGions, what the word signifies, and how and why such
a great number have been introduced in the world, 56
(Originally Secs. i-xxiii, later, Secs. 1-8, Chap. IV.)
MOSES, Of ecc siue exnisuergs omg Ead, 62
(Originally Secs. ix-x, later, Secs. 1-2, Chap. V.)
NuMA POMPILIUS,: OP. SI v esc seco ds pup eesecs 71
(Originally Secs. xi, later, Chap. VI.)
JESUS CHRIST OF ee nee dun ee ois cd eee eee 72
(Originally Secs. xii, later, Chap. VII.)
Jesus Curist, of the Policy of _--.----------- sedet edit 75
(Originally Secs. xiii-xvi, later, Secs. 1-6, Chap. VIII.)
Jesus Curist, of the Morals of... -.-.---- ------ ---- ------ 80
(Uriginally Secs. xvii-xviii, later, Secs. 1-3, Chap. IX.)
JESGs CHRIST, of the Divinity of 222. us se dur 84
(Originally Secs. xix-xxi, later, Secs. 1-3, Chap. X.)
152 THE THREE IMPOSTORS.
MAO METEO a as oe ete le eo te 88
(Originally Secs. xxii-xxiii, later, Secs. 1-3, Chap. XI.)
Trurus, sensible and obvious ...... ------ 22222. ------ ---- 93
(Original Secs. i-vi.)
POUL GOI the ester edad eec ee Os Seat E CE 96
(Original Secs. i-vii.)
DEMONS, OF Spinte called, c ee Sea ee sene UIS IOI
(Original Secs. i-vii.)
APPENDIGIDS cos aches, SAGs see qucm Sewanee, I 107
Manomet, Edition ** En Suisse," 1793----. ---- ---. ------ 107
De Trisus Imposrorigus, Edition MDIIC ..... .... ...... III
(A literal translation of Latin reprint by E. Weller, 1876.)
ConNELL UNIVERSITY ...... ---- 2.2. 22.222. 22222. 222. ll. 145
TRANSLATIONS OF LATIN IN THE TEXT. ...... .... ---- ---- 146
Tur GENTLE READER—Quixotism ...... ...... ---.------ 149
ERRATA.
P. 5, 2d paragraph, ist line, Werner should read Weller.
P. 12, line 5, sermonen should read sermonem.
OriGINAL Mss., A. D. 1716, CoxTAINs—
Dissertation, pp. 26-36, 3300 words French.
Treatise, pp. 37-101, 19800 ‘ French.
Total, 23100 words.
Weller’s reprint, 1876, Edition, 1598 contains 5800 words
Latin.
INDEX TO
PAGE
AQnON pyc psi Sse crece 66-135
Abelaka. ses ss messes 89
Abdallah 22522080 esse 89
Abdo-Imutalib ...... 2. ..... 89
Abdul-Motallab ______________ 89
Abraham... II3-II4-I33-I4I
Ada: (his ss se I4I
*dam. ced 81-127-140
AdrnanlV. 22225 32
PAR ensure 143
ANAL SES 2 I4I
Aesclesiade 22s. sss couse eee 98
AAD lea eue weed 42
Aholibamah ses. I41
Akalibamah: "1: "22 141
1-010125 228 GO TNR DEOS 10
Alérander=--se esse 108
Alexander III..............- 33-34
Nlexis.--g22cncccecetierecieeeetl 120
ANA Lane eme sage eds oy 89
Anal-Schirwan ............... 88
Anastasius IV...............- 32
Andronicus s2s-sesmummuvmsese IO
ARUECRTISÉ esse states 78
Apelléss-7-— a See dts 52
APOU Overs tote Ses et ses 71
Aylstotle...-— cc rd 26-77-97
PIS a2 seria ee ete see hme 88
ATE .cl2l22inee2zczee Use 10-16-25
Amgrétin cd cce CELL rou 8
ASIA qe ———Ó 123
Assyrians..-.-..2lll.-.:m222- 68
Athens essi cct ede EA 120
Augustin, St. L2 222. 222... 80-81
Avervoes _ ____..______.._. 8-26-35
Barbier ses ui celo 16
Barnard... aces ipods 8
Bashemath ___________________ 141
NAMES.
PAGE
BaUtisc sati peer iio 81
hr 33
i, tee uses I41
Béni-Saad - ses 52 89
3 gl | eee Te US I4I
Beritie tions cesses aoe oe see 9-28
Beverland ..--.-22: dL 10
BOCAlA eu a ces se 26
BUCCACONG 26 cece ccc ccawamme 9
Bona SpSs.ccccccacwnnsen sacs II
Boniface VIIDI----.--.-222- 87
Boulainvilliers___------------- 108
Brahmins; ses 122-140
Brakespeate ss ses 32
Bad ee ee RE 8
Brunet Essen assé pire 13
BrünOucoizsc.sssuesesmeesasseec 9
Businis sr esse 64
Calixtus: III :-ssusememmesss 33
LOS DUM aon seis E Et E UR ia cee 27
Campanella --__- suce 7-9-27
Gares 2eme 34
Gelestilic-s2scc-m2 06cm 53
Celestin TT: 2s -eai.c-z2usc2zz 33
GelsusssusuxsssdhsdscpisEk 72-81
Cesar uu ie 58-75-108-118
Chanantass-. Je rss 54
CRALFON SES 79
Christ Anti 55252222 de 78
Christ Jesus... 9-19-21-22
41-62-72-73-74-75-77-78-79-80-81
82-83-84-85-86-87-88- go - 93 - 103
104-107-I12-I114-130-133-138-139
Cherbourg...----.-22-2222-- 28
Cnherintusz.-onzlx eoo eor 78
Cicero2...mummmearee ieu 29-118
Cigala ss uu -cc2l0.-2l5e we 9
Clement, IIl 2222-2 33
Constantine the Great ........ 53
154 DIE DREI ERZBETRUEGER.
PAGE
Gordli--coccllanli-niseces 90-108
Corinthians sas 143
Cornell este Lee ee ea 145
Cosmopoli Bey -..------------ 10
(Grevanna ses ss sssueesses 7
Gothers sertie 149
Cytilé, Sti.22222-cscacsasecese 81
Daellivzs iziexeeem—m mme Rue 14
Dàmasel...sl2l22--2u2e-c2bw 53
Danae: 252 71
Danielz-25--- 24524 42-81-138
De Bürei:a:.memeImme mnes 13
Demoóocritus.:.. ss. 99
Descartes. 2..." ti 10
Deuteronomy ...... ---------- 138
Dianall.-2es--—————4— 120
Dicéarchus ciis ilico 98
Diogenés.::-.. tissu 98
D'Israeli ccceuccsssse sce... 13
Dolet (it) i.c ci2Lceccl 9-2
Dominicus... olo rcu 121
DEA ss esemasssaeséass 16
Tierheim eis eie mci T
ERE) UO) Wyo ange RAP REM E 78
Ecclesiastes --s-22ssmce 54
Ejgevia 28 .2c. eis ass 71
Egyptians.i22.-se mme Ru 123
Elbertüs, Fra: 22.2.29. 45
Elijah mers 70-81
BONES send se se 141-142
Einpedocles 2222-28 70-99
Epaphroditus- 2 82-83
FEpicbetug ras ieseeEe 82
Epicurus. 22mm 82-99
Erasmis sass. rade re ee 9
ERSUcILLGdLetensensscs 8
HSA cei mtce2ssasilccsldééec I4I
Hsculapius Less 98
Esdras Laco. ted 136
Ethloplanuessssciicicieiszc 127
Eugene de Sabaudio .......... 12
EUtODe lola. cesk seed 122
EXoislc2scicsssseseesstceS 81-140
Ev&lythaeccnceclsme-mxe mme Ree 9
Exodüsz.i22--.ee eec 135-137
Ezekiel...-. 222a 42-54
PAGE
Fauns:-svessaoueresseresucs 120
Ferney, de _.------- ---------- 23
Fischer: sem: ones 10
Oh eee nsc 71
Fortune .--.-22---------22-5- 60
Fra Elbertus..........----...- 45
Francis za-neee-de—— eR I2I
Franklin ..... 22m 22
Precht 22.222228 28-29-30-31
Fréderieus :..-----22--.Rcx2 33
Frédérick == css 24
Frederick Barbarossa ....... 32-34
Frederick the Great .........- 34
Frederick II. of Prussia ...... 34
Frederick Isis 32-33
Frederick II. .3-8-32-33-34-35-36-37
Freudénthäl..z. se. 10
Furies. ..-.---2---22222222-c-5 60
Gabriel... eU 88-134
Galatians. s.ceccesteee ses 142-143
Galen esse ss entente 98
GaASSendT 22d messe 9
Guslardlouszsicetltl2n8s 28
Genesis .--.... 109-136-139-141-142
Genghis Khan..........--.... 71
Genthez-- sus 13
Giessen scsccsececcesseccesdsx 13
Gollüs 2:sssreumssesessassre 88
Gottsched 25025 co scseee e 12
Gratian:.2cosccecesccatece suk 53
Gregory VIIL .-2-222-22::-2i2- 33
Gregory IX... 3-33-34
Gymnosophistes __.---.------- 127
Hagatze-e i. Loc-o- 143
Halima....-.-.2-2zacze t Rom 89
Hannibsl 22.2. mes 58
Harpocrates --------.--------- 5
Hariman..------2i2.2ccff9-- 73
Hashemzc2lcece.v n demo 89
Haydn ai-2-2-22--9---------- 3-32
Henningér 2.2.2.2. III
Henry LV sen 34
Henry, the Lion ...........- 32-33
Henry VI «22-4594 32-34
Hérbert::.cssse 10
Hercüless. csset preuve 81
LIestod sise 81-102
DE LOS TRES IMPOSTORES. 155
PAGE
Hippocrates... asaseeesucs 99
Hippolitusz-si- 2o oe 81
Hittites mme ea 141-142
HAVItGS Cm I4I
Hobab..z-emeemr RR meus 68
Hobbesissssacscs 10-28-57-58-60-61
Hohendór£zs em dunes 106
Homer esse, oe esse 81-86
Honorius III.............. 3-33-34
Hutcheson... .ccccecseeceencasd 5
TOTALE sees ae a 89
Ignatius 2-232522 I2I
Innocent Ille 33-34
Innocent IV. "2... cnc a8
Iphigenia. 22d eie 81
ISAAC sr — 81-141
Ishmiael..:-..-22-----:-2cc22-. I4I
Israels ne 113-133
Israeli, 2D" soccesuescecesaecces 13
JaCOb sowie: tisse etes 109
JeltOshta aces serres 72-73
Jephthah _____ SSSR sun 81
Jeremiah ss cece sna 42
Jerome; St.zi-- e cem 82
Jesus—see Christ.
Jethro Eee ere se 66
[5I RS Oe duitis ione 16-24-25
AC EEE 42
John, King of England........ 33
Johny St. sssssesessd 75-76-78-80-85
Io C €—— 8
Jonas secccdlistdeeLcts B1
]OSeplyaassc.emizmemecttusstee 81
Joshua, rss ere 113
Jovian eue es sodes 82
Judaism 2. 20. evesee 123-130
Jüdath Ecce ne re SE 141-I42
JULIA eek te ete SE hcc 86
JUPILEr == ease 71-81
JustineMartyr.. sus 63
Kaslm 2 seems see cle 89
Rap ess cree eee 5
Knights, Teutonic............ 3
Koreish oases Se ee 89
Korthol tt. | Teen 10-28
KRriéDe ses rames ue mes 13
Wed aya "che, Pro a 73
PAGE
Leger, Abbé de St.___________. I3
TROT ge 53
DÉCOR CR RER ET RE 78-79
L'ÉUCIPDUS. sas een 99
Geni testes ss. se unes ts 76
WIS OMS LEE ass 35
YY eee TE ee tt 71
DOt6-lL2l--csseLeeemeeec 81
Iooüucleersc eerte Lee 10
Touts Dacian sete tec 02
Lucas — 10
ld1688 22:220 9 SsnsecicHSetus 10-II
WuCiter 224 226 ote eae se 81
Lucius TI 33
Lüke,St...---22 9x6 81-82-85-134
Éyçaohs 2223 eee 81
Macchiayelli 5s. Res 9
Mahalaad ..-. xu 141-142
Mahalath ~ 2.2.2. lc 141
BAMlubümied el. mes 9
Mahomet........---. 9-19-21-62-74
86-87-88-89-91- 93 - 107 - 108
109-I14-122-123-125-126-127
130-131-132-133-134-135-136
Mahomet Mustapha__________. 88
Marchand .-..22222222222.2524 II
MAréSiisll-iicsecexes2eetlic 9
Marta. 53
Mary-:--ezzeR-eI4R Ee 66-73
Maschi: 2mmcseteemeesesse- 12
Matthew, St. -_--__-------- 78-138
Müüpeol-.o-fe--— e cer 22
Mayeril:....-.-------.-222---- 12
Medes-:2 roma 68
Memnon c<sessecsescasiocaeuse 64
Mercier ses same peste 18
NéRDIAS senc As cco seme ce ees 9
Messiali---22-222.- 2 77-78
MÉYÉE 2 22e memseenses 10
Micah. csnteces seesedeyeeeks 42
Millenium 18
Milton ESS 5s semer in 9
Mogul, the Great____________ 116
Mohammed—see Mahomet.
Monnoye, de la........... 10-16-23
Montrose-2.2 aus 5
Morinus- 2.55.2 xm erre ema 9
156 DEI TRE IMPOSTORI.
PAGE.
MOSS oce Ens 9-19-20-41-42
43-54-62-63-64-65 -66-67-68-69-77
90-93-I03-IO7-II3-II4 - 122 - 123
125-126 - 124 - 131 - 132-133-134
135-136-137-138-139-140-142-143
Mosheim ---------2les2 9e. 8
Müuelletss2uceLmeee RR 8
Muret essences 9
MUSÈS Eee a's arate eae ee 60
Myles eu sen Lens oes IS
Nabajoth. een oe 141-142
Nachiepal-.4ss tissée ts 8
Nasier, Alcofribas____ I
Nebuchadnezzar ............- 81
INIÉRO EEE tty oh te 82
Neure: (Os see Sepe 9-28
NOAM session 140
Numa Pompilius ......... 71-84-92
120-123-145
Nüinbersc.-2--------—- I35-I37
Ochi, 22s ose Ses eee 9-27
Octtinger siue RE .ude 10
Omokeltum :-s2s2se. 2 89
Onipeils dh 72-81
Ofonata Lee ee mere anse 3
OTHER ee pires 32
Otho, of Bavaria ..-..-......- 24
Otho, the Great ____.._______ 32
Otho, the Illustrious ..... 32-33-37
OTBoDnl..-.2l llle 20332
Ottoman (0) _------------.--- 9
Oyidic sc ee ee 140
Paice — P" 120
Pandirà elem ul 72-73
Pandora. terres 81
Banübgpendssoscencetacsdemetus 28
PARA ase. erc Ces 9
Paracletés users 133
Pascal IT son s5ssenreemontonse 33
Patriarch of Jerusalem ........ 33
Paul, Ses et 23-42-78
79-86-139-141-142-143
Pérdiceas 25 urnes ere 86
Periphlegeton ___________.__. 81
Perseus. Lun 71
Péter, St... coesuslscs-zc 139-142
Peyrere, Isaac de ............. 127
PAGE
Phaedon 22222220: mue 8o
Phaeton. ss. 81
Plyarisees 23-2 73-76
Pharáolb.-..--22mm-xe mes 66-70
Pharaoh, Memnon II.......... 63
Pharaoh, Orus I.........-...-. 63
Pharaoh, Orüs Il 22.0 64
Philemon 222-2: mere 81
Philomneste, rss 14
PhormroH Sec Mr 58
Pitts oc see samedis 22
Pius Vlal..col-—Ó scat 21
Platociccclce2c2060z- 71-80-81-96
Po&gplots.cuocusss-ucumecais 9-27
Pompilius, Numa ........ 71-84-92
Porponatius-------2-----2- 8
Pomponiaóé. ire 2
Posters 8-27
Paula, Erà 2mm 24
Pzraxias ere cepere 52
Priapus mem 60
Ptolemy scene 8o
Pucellé scene esse 73
Pythagoras. .———.csicore---4l 96
QUIXOTISM 2eme 149
Rabelais Goo comme umm 9
BOUIN s peces s macte por eene vi
Raitialdi -. seiner RES 35
Rl isenscbcetsonesscse 89
Poi ee copo PS 7
Rebekah EE resserre 141
Renouard. 22222200 7
lp e — II
EICeomie aagoaetaas emere 7
Rome esse eue 120
ROMANS nent Pete ss 10
ROMAINS 22-22-2222 70-73
Rousset SELLES Te Ses 8-11
Rays Wick Eee osesesenienne 8
Sabaudio, Duke Eugene D....4-12
106-146
Sab bata, Seyi «2 coscsecsssescs 9
Sadducees._._.--.------------ 73.
Saint Leger, Abbe de........- 13
Saltza, Herman von der....... 34
Samaritan re soda emma sous 136
Samson == Lun cr resccnectess 81
DE TRIBUS IMPOSTORIBUS. 157
PAGE,
Samuell.:scitbe.seceenececccn 42-73
pis: TE 120
re CER 86
Scheuerleer 2-22 II
Schmid)... znexeslc21c2ddus 13
SCIDID EEE nn see oot cc 58
Scipio Africanus.............. 58
Scottish Rite esse 3
elves la: urnes Sate II
Servetussscsssciuwessescscsce 8-27
SHmjasc usc cei nine 8o
SIIGHSÉS casser cccifiocuc 122-140
SOCTATES Sacamchedhsccaceae cess 80
SolymMan 22 semestre 9
Spinosa seit se eek IO-II-16-28-145
Spinosaüdll2oss222eeám Ree II
Stada.---e--xE Iss csosd 73
Ot,aube Sins Te nes 13
SEC CORNE ER cee 145
SÉTOLOÏT esse see areas 107
Subiroth; Sopimissssour ee II
Sy bUline ss ue asso 61
Sylvester Ti. it eee 54
Tantalus. --—-—--—--o1 nier 8r
'Tansendorff.......... --- 30-31-32
Templars: 2-22 33
S'estullianucct c rte 52-57
Teutonic Knights............. 3
"Thahlr-.n2lolc2srewwee--2escrzi 89
AM Aj M2233 Tes re 89
Theodore, Emperor. .......... 53
"TTUheóphylactus. 2e. 81
"Phermitis- 325 semer 64-65
Thessalonians 2... 78
"Dhorty.-2--cLee aum Mt. 107
PRESS acess ---.-—23 590222 120
PAGE
*Funalü$iseszoinssessíiimizesc 8o
"Dinotheus. 21.1 .222:2222z2lz 143
DAMON Eu cesse I4I
fuss acute su 120
Toulouse -...-.--------.-.---_ 27
TINO GtiMS 222222 remercie 81
"Trinsitium. 2222222 eme 81
SER e Tus ese cere tees ef 35
UÜtban TII. amies 33
Vago, Perini del __________ 10-146
Wale sceseuessensssesctes 14-15-16
Vüalentinidmi- o esse 53
Valliere, Duke de la __________ 13
Vanier see eue 8-16-25-27
Wed as donner 122-140
Verimontil, «emet 12-146
VWiACtOE Vins see 33
NEWER pere roses II
Vignes, Pierre des .........- 35-36
Wines; déisceliemeseesi22-se- 8
VF pile nues tunes 16
VolueyoeÀ decente 38
Voltaire 2222: 16-20
Vroése.:. ne tenues 10-11-16
Mülcanaosi-cececcsl9se-u 8r
WaallabeeSecscecenitc2loeeeci 89
Warville, Brissot de ...--..... 23
Washingthon.....--.----.---- 18
Weller: 2222 eus 7-9-14-1II
Weret coscueemeeereme eee 5
(should be Weller—see errata.)
MATE metres 7
Peineb sense eee 89
ZIDeON ee eee 141
Zipporahnsss.sssesssseses.s 135
INDEX TO PLACES.
PAGE
AGE t — 24
JMIBÉEIC «eeepc rH oresverss 22
Amsterdam ......- 10-11I-14-79-108
Aqabldczitcl.-— [223 62-66-67-88
Arabia Petrea _______________. 65
Babel a2 scses sessed mm ERR 140
Dastille-3:2.22-9c eec 23
Batavüm 2-4 creer 10-146
Bavaria: s2msecesesces im 30-32
Belgium... eo. sets 22
Berlin cccccesceecestauteucess 11-13
Berolint lll cca 12-146
Bordeaux. ...-.csesesssss 13-00
BOStOU «espe creer me 299413
Brabant -ssassessressasizses II
Brittania: 2 es. keen eee 10-146
Bruxelles 2.2: v cessrr 10
BürdédS ess ssessosserenss 14
Canaan issus 141
Caprât-ussser mens 70
Chalceèdonsss sata 53
Cherresz.-----——— vases 70
Constantinople 22.222 2 53
DElOS ca ns ee eee 61
Derbéni..-.--2i622esecmeeás 143
Delphos:2:--:2-2zceszxecesecec 61
Drésden-ss: mc ess 7
Dundee... ool eee I5
East Indie se em 127
Edem-- mme 80-127
EBgyDt-.cl..---x6s 65-66-72-90-137
RhHÉSUSsSS ses er 53
Ethiopid-:--scsssserecnses 89-127
Hina, Mount esse 40
pElorentine 22 ssc sean 24
ESCe. needs Seles 8-22-127
Frankfort-on-the-Main ...... 11-28
Ganlzssisr cesser ess 64
GENÉVA SES -cetemnsesestsse 27
PAGE
Germany 2-22 7-11-33
Giessen Levure ssreucee ses 13
Gomorrah "22m. 81
Hades. Eee 95
Hapue ss use 8-10-11
Hamburghz:.:2225:222ns22- IO-II
Haye; Janet Ten EE II
Heidelberg: 2 cee ike, 10
Heilbronn 22e came 7-14-III
Hochstadt.z... osseux 30
Hollande rene. Has 11
PG IStCI rss or nes 16-25
Horeb, MES nee 138
Fhungary EEE cette me 8
Ibefianiicls2222me-----5 ise 7I
ICONIUMN eee enr e mm re 143
Inde ir nine 134
NÉS RS me Mees 68-113
Daily Be soe cea See 8-118
Ithaca PER Re 115-145
Jerusalem. 22122. 33-34-138
Jerusalem, Patriarch of ....... 33
Tudea seruit Sees aed 72-90-139
Iie l= Noise arr es 10-16-2
Kraokaubs-s.ilem-eeenmexe mm eees 8
Leipsiéi.------.acdsc2emeu IO-I3
Leyden... soos See ees 16-25
Londonzsssesesesetftehruese 14-18
Lydia eau ess 73
PSE Se reines 143
MAÉ = Lee 10-146
Meta .ericcoccscamenec 88-89-90-91
NFédinass memes 88-91
Millan Lee de see cian mess 14
Mügselle utc un trs 30
Mianieh: ssl Lee ets 30-31
MHNSLÉTSL Leaders 25-127
INAupactec-c-cco uu LES Sees 58
Nazareth, i. EE ne nee 72-73
LES TROIS IMPOSTEURS. 159
PAGE PAGE
Neapolitan _______.__________ 24 RUSSWOMM in.-cnsseesccee une 10
Neüchatel.....2--llleccolccu- 23 Sabaudio...secewetioien s ees 12
New York...--:..-.- 2 d 14-145 SAXONY MR 31
pr — 53 Schiten neurone Les 32
Nile semences cuucs 64 Sinai; Mt 143
Normandie.....-.-2---222:.ll 75 SOdOHlosiecs-icrl ecce ncc 81
Palestine .-.--..-----«.-.- 122-123 Subaudio (see Sabaudio).
Paris ssssssmsutesss 7-9-18-21-22 SUISSE: once 16-23-107
Periphlegeton ................ 81 "T hebes dc dass mue Loc 64
Persia-ecdllese--eeee9 22 89 Toulouse: cc unies 8
Philadelphiew= 2222222. sL5-4 18-145 JUUrkeye.. gcluesccfclfesdes 9
Piccadelly.; lasse. lse.s cols 18 United States us 14
PISA! ois LT — e — 36 Rd c € 24
Racka :=-- ss 7 Viénni.::s-sumcnceseceses 13
Role... cuc nem 8-11-21-22 Washington craie 14
Rostock.<--cs:eess--s--<e225% 10 Witelspachasi---cm 32
Rotterdam ss some 11-16-25 Vyerdoner --2-couseuees II
T
i $ y
SN
Live Music Archive
Librivox Free Audio
Metropolitan Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Internet Arcade
Console Living Room
Books to Borrow
Open Library
TV News
Understanding 9/11